Minor Miscalculations
by Fragmented Disillusionment
Summary: After being transformed mysteriously into a Pichu, Alvin must race to discover a cure before his humanity is erased from the inside. Along the way, he'll discover a sinister plot that runs far deeper than the transformation of one unfortunate youth.
1. Error of Interpretation

Minor Miscalculations

Pokémon are the intellectual property of Nintendo, Gamefreak, and anyone else who may've bought into it. This work in no way infringes upon the terms of fair use.

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Like every other morning in this little corner of Hoenn, the day dawned pale and bright, the songs of birds (and other assorted Pokémon) drifting across the land as a pale soundtrack for the slowly stirring human life, as well as all of the other creatures much less slothful in their habits. Alvin rose slowly, weary from yet another late night. Summer was over now, and school was resuming, forcing its iron grip upon him. Weeks wandering the countryside in seek of adventure and glory in the Pokémon training league would be postponed until the next year. The dull work of learning for one's dull future had to commence again, much to Alvin's dismay, and all his loyal companions, Pokémon he had trained for long hours and had stuck with him through thick and thin, had all been sent to some miscellaneous relative to care for until this year came to its conclusion.

All but Desumo, his Pikachu, who was currently asleep somewhere in the realm of his feet, shivering slightly every now and then against the cold. Only the young man's mother called the electrical mouse that, though. Everyone else just called him Des. The Pokémon trainer had treated him like an equal and loyal friend throughout his short career, showing him respect and kindness in all circumstances. In return, Des had given him three gym badges, several second degree burns, and above all, his unconditional love and trust. Des could be trusted to do anything in his power, even at personal risk, to protect /his/ trainer, and had saved the boy's life more than once. Thus, when his mother told him he would have to send him away for the summer, Alvin had blatantly refused. After much pain, several cuts to his allowance, and a few blows, he had managed it. This year he would get to keep training with him even during the "off season" (at least it was for him: really good trainers were home schooled or self-taught). Who knew? With good behavior, Des might even be able to come with him to school!

A few slow moving hours, a shower, three pieces of poorly cooked bacon, and a spilled mug of coffee later, the young Alvin was again crossing through the small stretch of forest that separated his small house from the rest of the town, and the school. Sure, people had been rumored to have been hurt in the forest before, and there was even a disappearance every few years. But that only happened to /the other guy, right? Roads and trails were for chums without well-trained electric Pokémon riding their shoulders. After so many years raising him, the young man was as good as any human could possibly be where understanding the Pokémon language was concerned. True, he could not discuss the weather, or recommend his favorite books to the mouse (Well: He could, but the reply would be unintelligible), but he knew when his friend was pleased, or aggravated, or cold, or hot, or hungry, or thirsty. He knew where his favorite place to hide when he was scared (behind the water heater in the basement), and he knew how to properly ground himself so that Des could attack while in physical contact with him and not cause him harm. Similarly, the mouse knew exactly how to inform his trainer he absolutely needed his body heat, and when he just wanted to be left alone. The two enjoyed a bond unlike with any of the boy's other Pokémon. It was not an unusual thing. Often trainers had a favorite who they /knew/ almost as well as a human friend. Des was Alvin's.

The two had journied at least halfway to the town before either could tell something was amiss. The air seemed clearer all of the sudden, free from the little smog that cars and power production plants produced. "Des, does something seem different about the forest today?" Alvin stopped walking, looking around him with a quizzical and searching expression.

The mouse leapt easily from his shoulder onto the ground below, looking up with an equally puzzled expression. "Pika?" The words were not English, but the tone and eye of his partner seemed to say: "I don't know, Does there?"

Alvin pointed upwards, to the layer of smog hanging in a thin brown haze above the town… or where the thin haze of smog should've been. The air was crisp and clean, as though it has never been exposed. "But… I suppose we should get going… I worked out a timetable with a margin of safety, but not enough to stand here all day looking at the sky." With that, Alvin dashed off, Des at his heels. Within seconds, the mouse had somehow found his way back onto Alvin's shoulder.

What it the name of…

It was a hedge, two of them actually, stretching progressively into the early morning mist, which seemed to have chosen nowhere but here to condense. Alvin walked curiously up to it, pulling out his cell phone and snapping a few quick shots. This trip to school was rapidly resembling one of the adventures he had left behind! "Well, what do you think Des?"

"Pikachu!" He said eagerly. The tone of it was all the encouragement Alvin needed. He had seen these woods dozens of times, explored every corner, every tree. There was nothing like this! Such a find was worth being truant to explore any day.

The two (Or rather the one, considering Des was riding rather than walking) walked for what seemed like hours into the mist (Though only five minutes had passed). Although it had at first seemed never-ending, Alvin had just disproved that theory: He had reached the end. It wasn't spectacular or anything, just a circle of blue stone arranged in a circle with a few small points, and a circle of lighter blue stones arranged in a similar circle inside the first. What was remarkable was that the stones refused to move. Alvin had accidentally kicked one when he first stumbled upon the pattern (Having not seen it through the dense fog), and had received this painful revelation. Despite the best of his strength, and he was not a weak one mind you, not a single stone would be moved "Well Des, what do you think?"

"Pi-, Pika -pi!"

One stone held the place of prominence in the center of the smallest inner circle, its shade of vibrant yellow in stark contrast with the pale blue of the other stones, its form half-buried in the ground. Was that... a thunderstone? Such a find would be of great benefit for the both of them, that went without saying. The young man stepped easily over the inner ring of small stones, shivering slightly as his boots made contact with the ground. There was an expectant feel in the air, the kind of dull static buzzing one can feel as a herald to a thunderstorm.

Des squeaked nervously on his shoulder, easily sensing what the human could not. His words loosely translated to "We have to get out of here, it isn't safe!", and Alvin understood. For the first time in years, however, he ignored him. He bent down, reaching out to the stone as though drawn by magnetic attraction. Sure, the benefits of having one were certainly tangible, but there was something else, something beyond the five senses. Acting purely on instinct, Des performed what seemed like the most logical and direct course of action to protect his trainer (Who was clearly too stupid to realize the danger he was in): He unleashed a powerful electric shock.

Alvin knew how to avoid being accidentally shocked, but could do nothing to prevent it when he was the intended target. The strategy had worked brilliantly for Des in the past, saving Alvin's life on several occasions. Unfortunately, it would now fail. For Alvin laid his hand upon the stone just as Des let loose with enough electricity to make him think twice. He did, but not because of the shock.

The electricity (being law abiding pockets of excited electrons) took the most direct route to the center of the earth. If only Alvin had been barefoot, or had reached for the stone with an arm upon which Des did not perch, the electricity might've taken a different route, sparing him from the effects the stone would shortly bring. Alas, fate was seldom forgiving, and this was to be no exception.

The stone immediately set out to perform the function for which it had been designed. The electrical attack was registered, cataloged, and the species which had performed it divined. Without too much of a delay, the burst of energy intended to devolve the creature which had performed the attack exploded outward. The only problem was, Des wasn't holding the stone.

Alvin instantly dropped to his knees, forcing Des onto the ground in front of him, cradling the hand which had been the conduit for so much energy. It felt as though it had been set on fire. And the fire was spreading. Before long, his entire body felt alight with the burning pain. Just as Alvin began to wish for death, the sensation evaporated into a sinking, pressing feeling. It was like going down in an elevator and a jet at the same time, but much more acute. As he shrunk, the weight of his clothing and backpack became greater and greater, until he was completely helpless beneath it. That was not to be the worst of it, however. For as fur of light yellow began to grow in a wave across his body, human proportions began to change to more properly fit the new body size.

The young man writhed under the crushing weight of both the transformation and his backpack. With slight squelching noises, bones and organs reshaped and expanded to fill a completely different body structure. His chest and head swelled, while connective tissues shrunk down to miniscule proportions. His head was the worst, with ears rising (accompanied by the horrible sound of stretching and straining cartilage) to the top of head, stretching to a size longer and nearly wider than the head where they rested. Eyes tripled in size, expanding to fill much more of his face, and nose withdrew to nothing more than a speck. With a lurch, his hips stretched, then contracted, forming a joint suited for a quadruped (Though a small gap remained, permitting the limited bipedal habits of the species he was rapidly becoming). As both arms and legs withdrew to half their human length, Alvin could again move. With one final pop as a stubby black tail forced its way out of the skin behind him, the transformation was complete.

With a grunt, Alvin crawled through the hole where his neck had been moments before, lying naked and limp on the damp earth beside Des and the stone. He felt so many things, strange things! The ground pushing against his body, the wind above, and the smells. There were so many, nearly all of them terrifying and foreign to him. And that was just on the outside. He felt so much fear, so exposed, vulnerable. He was naked for goodness sakes! His senses dashed from one object to the next (though he was face down in the soil, and unable to see anything), searching for threat.

What's happened to me?

The larger mouse looked down upon him with horror written plainly upon his face. "Chu?" But this time, his words were not gibberish, and nor did they sound too quiet or too high in pitch. Quite the contrary, they calmed him like the comforting words of his father in times of trouble. "Alvin? Is that you?"

"P...pi." What the hell? The voice was higher than the one he had just heard, and had a weak, stuttering feel about it. What was worse, however, was that the words were not English. He knew exactly what they meant, but could at the same time, though his ears, hear as they truly sounded. "Pichu! Pi- CHU!"; "Y-yes... What happened to me? Who are you?"

This time, he heard no English equivalents. The words in Pokémon were all he heard, and he felt like he had spoken it all of his life. "You are Alvin! I could feel that stone was dangerous, now look at you!" The larger mouse bent down, gripped Alvin's ears firmly, and pulled him back to a standing position on two legs, easily lifting his former trainer's minimal weight. He was at equal height, with the ears. Take those out of account, and the Pikachu was about a head taller. He spun Alvin so the two were facing each other, brushing the dirt from his fur with one paw.

Alvin did not have the strength to resist. One moment he had been walking to school, the next he was being treated like a… child… by his Pikachu! He felt so weak and frail, hardly able to stand on his own strength: like a single fall might break his bones. He couldn't be more than eight inches tall, twelve with the ears. Still, as he looked up at his loyal friend with watery eyes, he felt comforted. Somehow, without knowing how he knew it, he knew that Des would protect him… would keep him safe… would keep him from getting too cold. Like a child's unyielding faith in his/her parents, a sense of undying trust on a level of nothing before between the two formed inside him, linking him with complete dependence to the only adult of his species he could see: Des. The trust that had, moments before, connected the Pikachu to the trainer, now connected the trainer to the Pikachu.

"I don't understand… how is this…" He trailed off, thinking hard. Some words came out right away, while others required a great deal of internal struggle before he found a word that would properly fill the gap. The language was much simpler than English, of that Alvin had little doubt. "Able to happen to me? Why am I a…" He couldn't even bring himself to say the word, as though doing so would signal to some unknown deity that he was resigned to his fate.

"Pichu? You make a cute baby!" Des said affectionately, stepping back with a smile.

Alvin swayed back and forth slowly as he spoke, blushing furiously. No, he wasn't blushing… the red patches on his cheeks were lighting up, sparking slightly. As anyone who has tried to keep one will tell you, Pichu have very little control of their elemental powers, often releasing all their pent-up energy upon some random target when surprised or angry. "You aren't making me feel better! How can I go to..." He struggled for a moment, unable to force the word 'school' out. "My daily gathering-place… looking like this?" He felt the anger, the fear, building up inside him until… until… electricity exploded out of him, weak little bolts of lightning shooting in many directions, striking nearby trees and rocks.

Des lifted his tail just in time to avoid being shocked (However weak it might've been), absorbing the five or six bolts of random energy with ease. "Watch it with the electricity, Alvin, You could hurt someone!"

The Pichu looked, if anything, more hurt and confused than before. Not only had he just been turned into a Pokémon, but the first thing he had done was nearly hurt his best friend in the whole world. How was this possible? He knew of a few powerful Pokémon and magicians who could produce effects like this… but in the middle of nowhere, for no reason? "Sorry, I didn't mean it! It just sorta… came out."

At least the lightning had stopped. As it seemed, a Pichu could not hold very much electricity. If anything, Alvin felt, weaker, drained… too weak to stand on two legs. With one quick motion, he had fallen from two legs onto four, looking up at Des with fearful eyes. "Please… will you take me … to the… nest? It's so big and scary out here!" He almost gasped at his words. Not only did he look like a weak and pitiful child, he sounded like it. And right now, he felt it.

Des, apparently acting on an instinctive fashion, dropped down from his precarious two-legged stance and moved closer to Alvin, hugging him in no less supporting a fashion as any father who's small child had been frightened by first sight of lightning might. The Pichu seemed to still slightly, and became less restless. "It's ok… I've saved you before, I'll keep you safe now."

It was at about this time when he remembered his family, and he seemed instantly to be on the verge of tears. If he could understand Des, it meant… they would not be able to understand him. His life, his dream of one day becoming a gym leader, was lost to him forever. Would he even stand a chance of convincing his family that Des had not brought along some random animal into the house off the street? Getting in would be easy enough: A few years ago he had personally installed the doggie-door which Des used to wander freely in and out of the house while Alvin was otherwise occupied. "You don't suppose staying here will change me back?"

Despite Des being an excellent example of the best intelligence the Pikachu species had to offer, unusual intelligence could only go so far. When it came down to it, he was nothing more than a wild animal. Thinking of the future in any extended sense was almost completely beyond him. Nor could it change the fact that he knew no more of this strange series of events than his trainer did. "I don't know… but not doing anything never gets anything done. Let's go to the nest now… I haven't had a playmate in a long time! Do you know any games?"

What? One moment Des sounds like he wants to help me find a way back, the next he is talking about playing? Nest? What he did not remember, nor even realize, was that he had used precisely the same word. Much as children and young adults could move to new areas and pick up new accents, Alvin's words and thought processes were changing before his very eyes without his ever realizing it.

Apparently his Pikachu was less of a savior than he had thought. This was no time for games! But he had to admit; he was pretty much done-for without him. He may or may not have been old enough to have electrical attacks capable of striking anyone or anything else with force, but as he had just unwittingly demonstrated, he did not know how to control them properly. Not yet, anyway. He needed to get Pikachu to get him home. After that, his mom could help him! His mom could /always/ help him.

"Yes, games! But we have to get to the nest first. Can you take me there?" He could never get over how childish and helpless his voice sounded… like a baby. Come to think of it, that was what he was now. Mom and Dad will have gone to work… I can use the time until they return to think of a way to communicate.

"Sure! But you have to stay close… there could be ground or fighter type about."

Alvin took a few unwitting steps closer to Des, shivering at the thought of how easily he might be taken off to be eaten by any number of species that dwelled in these woods who he had thought of as amusing and even affectionate a few minutes before. He was, once again, a part of the food chain. And unfortunately for Alvin, it was a part of the base. "Ok. Just help me push my… thing… into the bushes." No word for bag? Just what do we have words for? No, not we! They! They have words for?

With a great deal of expended effort, the two electrical rodents managed to push Alvin's colossal bookbag into the bushes, and were slowly walking away when Des voiced an idea: "My pokeball is in that big thing of yours, right? I know how to open it. If you got inside I could take you back to the nest without you having to get hurt!"

The idea was a good one, Alvin had to admit, but it also made him cringe. He hated pokeballs! No, his body hated them. But either was, the thought of going inside one of those things repulsed him at a very deep level. Aside from that, there was one other, huge risk, he almost altogether avoided considering. What if Des got killed, captured, or otherwise restrained? How long would he remain trapped in some forgotten electronic before an unwitting traveler would release him? It could take days! Months! Even years! No. If he was going to die, he might as well face his doom standing up, even if he was standing on four legs.

"No. I'll walk. You might need help. Perhaps I am not well trained, and I don't know how to use my powers, but it might be you could make use of me as something to hold electricity, a bit of extra energy if you need it." He had tried to say "battery", but it just wouldn't come out. Blast it all.

Des giggled slightly, a sound his human side was repulsed to, but his Pichu one seemed cheered by. To humans, a larger, stronger, male should never perform such a dishonorable act, as it was almost a crime of sociality; an unspoken rule that not dare be disobeyed. But where Pikachu were concerned, if you had a feeling, you expressed it immediately, without reservation. It was liberating. Or at least, it could be so, should Alvin take advantage of it. At the moment, however, all his thoughts were bent on one objective and one alone: Getting home. If he could do that, Alvin knew everything would be all right.

"I don't know if you could help, but… it's your head. If you want to risk it out in the open… you must be very brave." Without another word from either of them, the two set off again, Alvin as close as he could possibly be to not make physical contact. He did not need anyone to tell him it was going to be a long trip.

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A/N: Alright here's my first attempt at a fanfiction for better or worse. As one may soon see, there is a distinct similarity (in many extra-situational aspects) to what I consider one of the best Pokémon based fanfictions on this site (Yes, I did talk to Rusty Raccoon). In truth, that particular work stuck me with such force that I was compelled to take pen to paper (or in this case, fingers to keyboard) and write my own in a similar, believable universe (perhaps even the same universe altogether). This work has not been edited, so I ask anyone reading it that takes note of any error to let me know so I can fix it. It is my only hope that this work will someday be of comparative quality to the one which inspired it. As you can tell, this work will have many, many chapters of about this length. My goal is about twenty. Please, please, comment on this, as it is my first attempt at fanfiction! I would really like to get better, but I can't do it without a bit of help!

This chapter has been revised and proofread in an attempt to eliminate most error. 1/15/07 10:24 AM


	2. Fortunate Happenstance

Chapter Two: Fortunate Happenstance

A/N: Wow… my first little story, and already over a hundred and twenty hits. I don't know if that is good or not, but it sure sounds nice. Perhaps all of you older users are in the hundreds of thousands on some of your stories by now, but this had been my first milestone. Still, I would've liked it if more than 1.3 percent of your reviewed. If you're still reading at this point: Hop to it!

To all of you who did review, however: Thank you so very much! I wouldn't have gone on without your input. Without KNOWING I wasn't talking to myself, I wasn't about to continue. All of you reading this who write (Which is probably all of you), you know how hard it is, and how time consuming, to make a story like this. Why use the effort if no one cares for what you are doing? Fortunately, there are at least a few who do. If by writing this story I can give a few people a few moments of enjoyment, I've done what I set out to do.

If anyone has any questions or comments, REVIEW! I'll need at least three more reviews to publish another chapter, so if you value your life, don't jump off a building.

On a more serious note, however, if you are enjoying this and don't know what I was talking about in the first chapter's A/N, go read Rusty Raccoon's "Just Your Average Pika". Now. You'll like it, believe me! The circumstances in this writing are very similar. Only difference in this story is: Things in that story usually work out for the protagonists (emphasis on the usually). In this one, such is not so. Alvin's going to have a much harder time of it, or at least I think so. We'll just have to see, won't we? Well, and that story is written hundreds of times better than this one, not to mention it being finished.(A bit of a rant: If only it were possible for Alvin to somehow meet pike. Boy would that be something. That is my ultimate dream… but it would seem, far about at this time. Even if Rusty Raccoon would let me, I'm still many, many chapters away from that ever happening…)

Alright, enough jabber. If you kept reading through this, I appreciate it, but if not, I won't blame you. I tend to rant when it comes down to things like this. So no more. Review. Pulls out pocket-watch and begins swinging it back and forth Yoooouuuu wiiillll reeeevvvvieeewww!

This chapter has been edited in an attempt to remove errors as of 1/15/07 4:52 PM

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"Alvin…. Aaaaallllllvvvviiiiinnnnn…." The voice was quiet, even to his acute hearing, drifting, soothing. It did not, however, remain so. "WAKE UP!" That was Des's voice, and his scent just beside him.

"Can I have five more minutes?" Alvin asked, not opening his eyes or moving from his position. It was so dark, so cool, so relaxing, and he was **so** tired.

_I must've wandered into a wild butterfree… or gloom, or something… put me to sleep… I have to get up or I'll me late for school!_

Clearly his mind had not yet fully awakened, and his humanity and human circumstances were assumed. If only that had been so. If only he could stand, brush the dirt from his clothes, pick up his back-pack, and run into school and retrieve a late-pass. Sadly enough, he was out of credits for strange and unexplained events. Suddenly changing back and ending up back at school would've pushed him into negative values.

Des, tired of waiting, decided to use the next most logical means to wake his former trainer, electric shock. And this time, it actually helped. Shock was actually a productive use of energy on two fronts. First, unless the pichu was already full of electricity, any shock would be of no physical harm to it. (and if it were, the pichu in question would not be tired). Secondly, a weak enough shock would fill the animal's energy reserves the remainder of the way, rendering he/she much less tired. Des knew little of this. He knew only that instinct told him to shock Alvin, and that instinct was never wrong. Well it wasn't wrong this time.

The pichu, mind floating peacefully in musing of what the lunch he packed would taste like, what classes he would be in (And if any cute girls would also be present in those classes), as well as the look on his parent's faces when he returned, triumphant, from his first day of high-school crumbled into the dust of any imaginative present as the energy from Des's relatively weak electrical blast surged through his body like five double-black-mocha-lattés. He quite literally shot up into the air, breaking clean through the small roof of rotted-out oak he had slept beneath, landing a good five feet away in a twitching heap.

He was up in moments, however, jittering and vibrating with his amazing access of energy. Alvin was up, all right, in a much more thorough way than daily awakenings of early morning, in preparation for school.

Now that he was awake, he remembered how he had truly got there. Des and himself had traveled for a few hours when he found himself suddenly extremely tired. At first he was surprised, until he remembered that human babies needed eighteen hours of sleep a day. Pikachu ones, let alone ones separated from the usually warm environment of their nests, would need, if anything, more. Still, knowing his repetitive weakness was "Nothing Unnatural" was nothing comforting. At all.

At least he wasn't tired now. Sleeping didn't help his paws. Oh were they sore. He didn't feel like staying still, but every step hurt. It was more of a dull ache, though. Nothing he couldn't handle, at least, nothing he couldn't have handled before. For some reason, even the smallest, inconsequential problems were so… important. Not to mention he was hungry, and scared. After that few hour nap, a bit of his human reservation was gone. Maybe not gone… perhaps it just hadn't woken up yet.

Either way, it was not the human portion of his mind that caused him to fall back into a sitting position similar to that of a human being (Legs stretched out before him with arms dangling in front), look over at Des with watery eyes, and start to cry. His largely human mind screamed in protest, but the instinct was so powerful… he was powerless to resist.

Des immediately responded to Alvin, both out of compassion generated by his close relationship to his trainer, instinct to care for the young of his species, regardless of weather they were his own or not, and fear for both their lives: That his small, pitiful cries might attract too large a predator, one he was unfit to deal with. "What's wrong Alvin? You don't need to cry… it's ok!" He rushed over to the pichu, sitting beside him and running one comforting paw through his fur, an equivalent gesture to what a concerned human parent might do for their human child.

The voice of his friend was all it took to give the human half of his mind enough control to end the crying. His instincts were strong, but Des's voice seemed to end it on both fronts. His comforting voice seemed to ease the pichu portion, and the words gave the human half strength, aiding in the end to the loud, annoying sound. Before too long, he was silent, still looking up at his friend with watery eyes. With a still-sniffling voice, he spoke. "Des… my feet hurt, and I'm hungry! Can you feed me?" No! That wasn't right, not at all! He had tried to say: I think I've bruised my right heel, and I feel quite famished, could you procure sustenance, or aid me in doing so? His mind, it seemed, was adapting poorer than he had hoped to speak without English. Perhaps if the stone had made him an adult animal, he might've fared better. Adults probably had more words in their language, which would've vastly improved his human mind's reactions to this bizarre body with strange instincts.

Although, with each passing moment, his movements were becoming less jerky, less forced, and much more fluid; the human mind is a flexible thing, and it was adapting.

"What I meant was:" Pause. "I think this body needs…" Another pause. "Less food…" Yet another pause. "More often, and I don't think I can get it. I think I smell apples nearby…" Yes, that was what he thought them to be. Unfortunately, he did not yet have the coordination required to retrieve them. Not to mention his sore paw-… no. Foot. Sore foot.

"I can get some, wait here." Des said, still in that quite an comforting voice, dashing up a nearby tree and returning a few moments later with apple in hand. He handed the apple down to Alvin, who began to much on it thoughtfully. And as like most children, Alvin had eyes bigger than his stomach.

He finished eating in only a few minutes, pushing the half-finished apple away with one short arm. "I'm done." At least he felt full, very much so, allowing him to temporarily ignore his aching pa-… foot. Before now, he had never much liked apples. But just then, that small piece of fruit had been of superior quality to anything in the brown bag he had left behind in the backpack. At the moment, an apple sounded much more appealing than anything his parents had ever made. What was wrong with him? As if he had to ask.

Des, not keen on the idea of letting the rest of the apple go to waste, easily picked off the last few bites before the two set off again.

Alvin stayed close to Des all the time, feeling vulnerable on two fronts. Not only was his body small and weak, but he was naked. Clothing had oh-so-many slight benefits he had taken for granted, at least until now. He did have his fur, but the short coating of soft yellow fiber was of little consolation when compared to the strong pair of boots he had left behind. He felt so open to the environment, so exposed. Humans had a tendency to shut out their surroundings, to separate themselves from natural tendencies. It was the nature of a species which wanted to become a society. Sadly, Alvin was not permitted to carry-over that environmental isolation when his body was switched.

The duo walked in silence and isolation for a good few hours, occasionally stopping to allow Alvin to rest. Surprisingly enough, the two were not bother by predators for some time. Alas, they could not remain safe and protected for long, not with the much-reduced speeds to which Alvin restricted them. Given time, he might've adapted to the body enough to match pace with Des, but he was a long way from doing so. Attracting unwanted attention was only a matter of time.

And ironically enough, it wasn't a predator they attracted, but one quite a bit more deadly; an animal of similar size, with a type advantage, and a beef for pikachu moving through its territory.

The pair stopped in unison, though there had been no communication between them. With similar senses, the both of them had detected another Pokémon. And unlike before, it hadn't moved off to continue along its own business. The sounds of breaking twigs and other assorted rustling were getting closer.

Acting, as he often did, on pure instinct, and with no human to tell him otherwise, Des picked up Alvin (among much protest), and forced him into a small crevice in a nearby rock formation, one far too small for even he to enter. "Stay quiet. Don't move. I'll get you when it's safe." This time, Des's words were hushed and serious, the tone that enters one's voice when speaking to a child completely gone, and Alvin felt compelled to obey, without question, or even further objection. He already trusted Des with his life, and now… his body did too, simply because Des was older. The old had to protect the young.

Though the two had almost identically strong senses (if anything, with ears like that, Alvin's hearing was better), Des had grown up with them, and knew quite a bit more when it came to using them. He had known long before Alvin what was coming. As the cubone stepped through the bushes towards Des, Alvin almost guessed (though for now, he was out of sight, and wished to remain so). He was a trainer, he knew just what this meant. Neither of their elemental attacks would do any good, and anything that horrid creature did to them would two at least twice as much damage. Even looking at him seemed to force fear into his body, causing to shake slightly.

_It'll be alright_. He told himself, looking at the stripes on Des's back. His friend was standing directly between the animal and Alvin like any protector. _Des knows what to do. I trained him for situations like this. _At least this time, Alvin wasn't wrong. Had it not been for their long hours of training together, the two of them would've stood no chance. As it was, however, Alvin had put equal stress on physical fighting moves as well as elemental attacks. Des did know what to do.

"You're in my territory." The larger animal bearing down on them had said. Its voice had the opposite effect to Des's on him. The much deeper, much more dangerous tones made him shiver. He was getting more scared by the second. "I'm going to kill you for it… I have to kill you for it."

Des's brain was nearly jammed by so many signals. He knew what he had to do to defend himself, and there was no electricity involved. He could stick his tail in an electrical outlet and shock this enemy until he caused mass blackouts, and still might not hurt it. It's whole body was a grounding rod, and his electricity was not near enough to break the connection. At the same time, his instinct told him to shock the creature, pick up Alvin, and run. But his trainer had taught him that sometimes, and often in battles, instinct wasn't always the best choice. He was very well trained, and this animal was wild. He could beat him. Or at least, he hoped he could.

((Bear with me. I've never described a Pokémon battle before. If anyone has any suggestions, please leave them for me in a review. I would be very thankful!))

The cubone lifted the femur-looking-bone in one hand, waving it around menacingly as he advanced on Des. With one quick, fluid, motion, he brought one arm sharply downward, releasing the bone. Both Des and Alvin recognized the attack seconds before the bone would come spiraling back. Des reacted just as Alvin had trained him to, leaping a meter or so into the air, clean over his attacker, landing facing him from the other side. Before his opponent could react, Des rushed in from behind, slamming into the cubone with awful force, and sending the animal to the ground.

Des pounced down upon the fallen cubone, biting and scratching and clawing. His enemy had fallen face down, preventing retaliation… or so he thought. That large bone went whirring through the air with speed he had not forced, slamming forcefully into his head and temporarily stunning him. When the stars and flashing light cleared, his opponent was standing over him again, that weapon again in his hand and he moved in for another strike. He wanted to run, to flee, anything to get away, but resisted. If he left now, this creature would find Alvin. Alvin would stand no chance… but perhaps there was another way. Wasn't his trainer always saying that, if you weren't in a battle with another trainer, often words would solve problems that fighting could not? Cubone was far too small to actually eat him, which meant he was attacking out of spite. If he could convince him not to hurt them… they might be all right. But how to do that?

He had one idea. If that failed… well, he was better trained, but this animal still had by far the advantage here. If he lost, the both of them were doomed. The pain in his forehead was telling him that loss was indeed likely.

"Wait, stop!" Des shouted, raising both arms from his two-legged stance in a gesture that clearly meant the same as his words. "Don't attack me! If you do, I won't be able to tell you where to find something really cool!" He was going to tell him about the circle of stones that had transformed Alvin. If he was lucky, the cubone, being a ground type, would be very interested in the pattern of stones, and why they could not be moved. Maybe he could trade the knowledge of its location for safe passage. It was a long shot, but after that first blow, anything that would limit combat would be most desirable. He was already feeling lightheaded, and that had only been the first blow.

"A few hours back that way there's this really cool thing…" He pointed weakly in the direction himself and Alvin had come, trying to keep his body low and face blank: A submissive posture. After all, he was the intruder here. "I don't really understand it… it's a bunch of rocks in the ground… they've got some pretty weird colors, and none of them will move. There's one stone in the center, and it only moves when you attack it… I don't really get it, but you're a ground type… you might be able to get more…" He was clearly scratching in the dark, trying anything that might avoid violence, and the cubone knew it, even if he was telling the truth…

"Really?" He said cruelly, taking another step closer and raising the bone slightly. Des was a trusting animal, always telling the truth, like most. Most Pokémon didn't have the necessary neurons to even conceive deceit, let alone consider it in others. He had been counting on that. And this time at least, fate favored him. If it hadn't been for him being raised by Alvin, and all the human things he had explained, such a concept would've been lost to him as well. Fortunately for their current situation, however, such was not the case. "Magic, you say?" Their opponent's face lit up, or at least the small part they could see through the bone did. As to what was happening underneath, it was anyone's guess. "I haven't seen anything like that for several seasons! Perhaps if I get the others, we might…" He trailed off, momentarily glancing away from Des. Had the pikachu been alone, this would've been the end of that encounter. But running away would not solve things when there was a baby to protect.

"Do you think I might… be able to pass through your territory now? I'm trying to reach the human settlement with my… my… one of the human's Pokémon I was taking in here to see the forest. We'll never bother you again, I promise!" Des nearly pleaded, dashing once again into the space between the cubone and Alvin.

During this entire encounter, Alvin had done just as Des had instructed, remaining silent and still an that little crevice of rock. Aside from a little whimper when Des was struck, he had followed those instructions to the letter. During those few moments of battle, he had tried to use that "highly evolved" mind of his to dream up a way out of this particular spot. It was one of his talents, using his head to think his way out of sticky situations, or at least it had been. He had tried to concentrate, to see objectives and obstacles floating and interacting in his brain as he always did, and consider all availabilities until the solution came to him… but he could not. A few hours ago, in his human body, a few moments were all he needed to think his way out of anything; it had helped make him such a successful trainer. But now… the fear was so overwhelming! From all sides, at all angles! His confidence was turned to ash, his alert consideration of his surroundings dissolving into a thin mist clouding his mind like a humid day at sea. And atop it all, this blasted instinct, screaming in his head that the only proper thing to do was curl up and cry himself insensate. At least for the moment, however, his human side had prevailed, and he had not moved nor spoken from his little hiding place.

"Sure, sure…" The cubone muttered, not really paying attention. "If any of my friends bother you, tell them Tel'Re sent you…" He moved forward a good few paces in the direction Des had already indicated, muttering to himself. "All those strange happenings… strange energies... thoughts…" Suddenly, and without warning, the vaguely lizard-like animal took off like a shot on all fours, bone suddenly in its mouth, dodging trees and bushes on its route to the formation Des had described.

It seemed the pair had been struck with sudden good fortune, much to the contradiction of what had transpired only a few hours before: They had chanced upon a protectorate animal who already knew of the formation they had previously encountered, meaning that further mention of it would spark no controversy, no doubt (if it was even there), and since the two knew the direction from which it had come, they had also provided their possible attacker with another subject to hold his interest. A perfect combination.

Alvin had almost thought to laugh at that particular name, or at least to bring the question upon such to Des, who knew so much more about the wild Pokémon world than he. Come to think of it, he knew more about just about everything there was to know when it came to Pokémon, or at least it seemed so now. Perhaps more of this animal instinct, something designed to help him trust his elders. He did not know… but didn't like it. He had studied for long hours everything there was to know about Pokémon… or almost everything. He had never really held much of a candle to the life of wild Pokémon. If only he had possessed the foresight enough to know he would become one. Just was a pichu supposed to do? He would ask… as soon as he was human again.

Denial is a wonderful thing, how a young man so far buried in this negative situation as he was could still consider being human again as the simple matter of getting home, as though the reversal ray was waiting for him upon the doorstep.

"Come on Alvin… let's get out of here before he gets back!" Des yelled, rushing over to Alvin and assisting in his exit from the small crevice of rock. "We aren't too far back to the nest now! If we move quickly, we could arrive before the larger humans get there!"

The pair hurried along through the remaining undeveloped woodland at a much faster pace than they had traversed up to that point, dashing all the way to the short trail that small human population had build in that area, using its scentless path for the remainder of their journey.

Alvin stopped at the place where the thin grass and topsoil met the white gravel path, looking down its sloping curves to his house, which was now visible in the far distance (it being one of the closest to the trail) He turned his head sideways, trying to view the gravel path from somewhat closer to his human perspective. Despite all he did to alter viewing angle and the angle of perception, he could not change what he felt. The path, which had appeared friendly and inviting only hours before now felt strange and alien to him, perhaps even inducing a bit of fear.

_It's alright…_ He told himself, trying to ignore the curious look from Des_. It's the way home! Safe! I'm almost there… _No amount of self-reassurance would change the way he felt; fear was fear. This emotional unsteadiness was doubled when he stepped onto the gravel, fining it hard and painful, even to the thicker skin of his padded paws. It felt like walking barefoot, which he was, but far more intense. Human feet were much larger, possessing enough surface area to allow a good fifty or so of the crushed white rocks (it wasn't very fine gravel) to press against each foot, helping to distribute the load. With feet so small, it was often just one or two stones per paw, and three when he was lucky. It would've been much more intense, but for the fact he now had four paws to distribute his load rather than two… no, four FEET, not two…

Alvin began a slow, shaky, unsure walking pace down the long path, occasionally dashing into the surrounding growth to massage a sore paw before returning to the center of the path. Unlike Des, who had nothing to lose by walking just along the side of the path, Alvin had something to prove, something to prove to himself. HE WAS HUMAN, NO MATTER WHAT HE LOOKED! He was going to prove that to himself if it killed him. That was unlikely, or at least it was from something as harmless as walking down a gravel path, but a few bloodied paws weren't out of the question. "This… hurts!" He said to Des, but kept going nonetheless. In battles, he had always told his Pokémon to stick it out regardless of the pain. Now it was his turn.

"That's why I always ride! You don't have to walk it, you know. It was made by humans for… well, for each other. You don't need it. We could just run down that hill over there… " He pointed to the sharp incline to one side, the which, to any human being, looked thoroughly overgrown, far too much trouble to walk through. From a pichu (or pikachu) perspective, however, it was almost completely open land, dotted with bushes that provided constant shade and shelter from the elements.

For Alvin, the prospective was one with promise. Just looking at enclosed areas like that gave him a feeling of safety. If only he had known what lurked inside… "Yeah, you're right… I can go around this time…" Next time, he would wear shoes.

All that electricity Des had shot into him… hiding from the attacking Cubone hadn't really given him any chance to use it, and the whole trip here had been within inch supervision of Des, like any parent watching an unruly child. Just looking at that hill gave him a feeling of contentment, with a perfect knowledge of the joy to follow if he could run undaunted and unbridled down its slopes.

All these feelings built up inside him until, like before, the infantile body was completely unable to hold them. Unlike last time, however, he did not break out into spontaneous bolts of electricity, instead darting away down the mountain before Des could react. Unluckily enough for the both of them, Pichu were faster runners (albeit with much less endurance, and much more capacity to running themselves into damage). He was down the hill so fast that he had hardly felt the reptilian jaws that wrapped themselves cleanly around his thin body, nor the fangs that grazed his side. He had been lucky. His speed had prevented the ekans concealed in the bushes from properly latching onto him, or even properly delivering its venom. Only one fang had pierced the small Alvin's side, the other sliding harmlessly through his fur for the second before the tiny mouse pulled away. For any adult animal, that would've been enough. Not so with such a small creature.

Alvin staggered, mere feet from his door. Instead of skidding to a stop, his body had shifted stance to a two-legged posture to correct from the speed of the sudden drop down the hill. This would've worked fine (given that pichu can walk on two legs, regardless of how restrictive those intervals might be), had it not been for the dose of deadly venom now surging through his body. Unfortunately, a lightning-fast animal meant a lightning-fast heart rate, which meant lightning-fast venom delivery. The world swum before his eyes as he took a few more, unsteady steps, reaching out for the wall of his human home, which towered above the little mouse like it had been made for a colossus. He was so close to his goal now... humanity within his reach. He couldn't give up... wouldn't give up... The amazing clarity and strength of hearing blurred and faded away from Alvin's ears just as all strength failed him. For a moment, he stretched out, reaching for the wall of masonry and concrete mere inches from the tip of one pale yellow paw. He was vaguely aware of a purple blur bearing down upon him from somewhere above… then everything went black.


	3. Reintroductions Incarnate

Chapter 3: Reintroductions Incarnate

A/N: What an experience! I don't know what happened when I published my first chapter... as I recall, it was several days before I had seen my first review, and several more until I was on the C2 I had been aiming for. Now… several technical reviews (which I adore), not to mention two hundred views for the combined two chapters. I never expected such phenomenal a reaction for such a story as I could create. Thank you to all those who reviewed! I will try and respond to those now, as I will here in the future.

Foxyjosh: Sorry about the rant in the last chapter. If any come around in the future, you can be sure I'll do my best to put them at the end. For things like this, responses to reviews or any other comments that have to do with the story, prior to the story, well, those have to stay up front. I can't write properly otherwise… I need the sense of closure that comes from responding to reviews before I can start properly on the next chapter. There is recompense, however: if you'll take careful note of chapter length, you'll find I add a few pages at the end when I rant at the beginning, to compensate readers for dealing with me.

Pink Parka Girl: I can scarcely believe you could possibly think so highly of me in comparison to the work from which this was based! I can't say I don't appreciate it, though. It's reviews like that which keep me going… no, pichu in this universe are not restricted to being babies forever. Remember, this is based on the universe Rusty Raccoon created in his story. In that, several wild characters referred to pikachu babies as pichu, as well as with Pike... to make a long story short, Alvin, or any other Pichu, for that matter, are not restricted to being babies forever, but do have the instincts of such creatures. Just like humans, which are born with selfish, babyish instincts, prolonged exposure will allow one to learn to overcome those instincts and increase in maturity. In this universe, however, pichu can never be true adults. They do possess the bodies of infants, which means they will have not the desire nor the ability to mate. (Which is true in the Pokémon games, so much as I remember.) In all other respects, however, I see no reason any pichu, given an everstone and time, could not become mature enough to be considered an adult. I'm afraid I'm setting to disappoint with that other request of yours, though. His parents would have to be mighty stupid not to notice Des returning without Alvin, and though it would be quite strange for them to immediately suspect such a thing to have befallen their son, you can be sure that, given a bit of time, Alvin will find a way to get across what happened. Assuming they don't throw him out of the house first. One last comment: Though I will try to make this as believable as possible, I am also trying to stay true to the shows and games (all of the original ones. I never saw much of anything after that). During this story, Alvin may encounter a colony of wild Pikachu, just as Pike did. For the purposes of this story, I am treating the social structure of this Pokémon to be similar to chinchilla or naked-mole-rats (more likely the former) for this story. Yes, there is a social structure involved. I think I remember an episode of the show with a colony of pikachu… I don't remember too much mention of isolated family groups. Correct me if I'm wrong on this, it was so many years ago… I'll try to stay true to the squirrel-like behavior as much as possible, but this is a story about human animals. Pokémon are going to be smarter than our animals by some margin no matter what path I take. This isn't about wild animals as they exist in our universe… they are intelligent creatures. Nothing in the range of human intelligence, but… well, you get the message.

Kazundo's Advocate: Thank you for the technical review! Without these, my story would get little better through time. I'll try to best respond to your comments without giving too much away. You know how sometimes parents just /know/ things, seemingly with information of any kind that might point them to such conclusions. My mother has a "sense", which, somehow, enables her to always know when my younger sister's room is clean. Such a thing will likely be a major contributing factor, which may enable Alvin's parents to ascertain the true fate of their lost son. Unfortunately, Alvin will not have the aid of any English in this, which gave Pike a bit of an advantage as things went on. I've already said too much on this front, so I'll be quiet now… Alvin wasn't a stupid kid. As the story goes on, readers will discover the former intelligence of this youth. When he gets extremely scared or worried, his language tends to become more sophisticated… or at least, it used to. As to the heel: I don't know if pichu really have them (but I suspect so, considering a paw is similar to a human foot (or hand, depending)), but remember, this is what Alvin, a human being, wanted to say. He still thinks like a human, or at least, he does now. He may often use human names for parts of his body, or refer to bodily applications he no longer has the benefit of possessing. It's part of his mental self-struggle to convince himself these changes were merely physical. As things wear on, he may begin to make errors of this nature less frequently: That's a bad sign. AHH! Once again, I've gone and said more than I ought to, right now.

That took some time, and a few pages! I'll be sure to recompense all those that read to the end with a bit more content, and to those that didn't: Don't read the last few pages! Just kidding… please, to everyone that is reading this, REVIEW WHAT I'VE WRITTEN! I will make an effort to respond to your review in the next chapter (and I guarantee you will receive a response should you ask a question or make a technical review). Also, in case you haven't figured it out yet, I tend to speak too much when responding to a technical review… so if you want to know more about the future, that is what to do!

This chapter has been edited in an attempt to remove error as of 1/15/07 5:22 PM.

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"Alvin! Wake up! Allllllvvvvviiiiinnnnnnn!" Des's voice was cheerful, with only a hint of that worried tone to it. Alvin's body was unresponsive, as though his mind had been completely ripped from it. He tried to open his eyes, to stand, or do anything, but nothing was happening, at least not right away. He had been dreaming… his mother and father had taken him out to dinner. His steak, however, had turned into Des, protesting in English at his trainer eating him. Alvin had been explaining (for what reason, he did not know) how hungry he was, and that mice were at the bottom of the food chain, when the words of the real life Des had filtered down through his drugged and bedraggled brain, startling him back to reality.

Eventually enough of the dullness of sleep fell away for him to open one eye. Some spongy, cottony cloth, white, all around him like a vast blanket. The other eye opened, with a similar amount of information gained. He could see the white cheese roof above, and a fan attached to the ceiling, five incandescent lights connected to its center, pale and dark. It looked so far away, though. At least a hundred feet… but no. As his mind returned, so did his memories of what had happened in the recent past. He could feel the cotton pressing oddly against his fur, short arms and legs involuntarily folded close to his body, and the whole of his form curled in a way which would easily break any human spine. He was a pichu.

But then, if he really was an animal, and it too was not a dream, why was he not dead? He had felt the effects of… some intoxicant, probably injected though that hole in his chest… his lower left side, just above the area where his lower two legs met the largest section of his body. As his awareness of the world around him returned, so did his self-awareness. The soreness in his side was nothing small, but there was really nothing he could do about it. It didn't surprise him, or at least, it failed to surprise him any more than still being alive surprised him. What did catch him somewhat off-guard was the thin, adhesive bandage attached just over the place where his skin and fur had been pierced.

What did this mean? Had he been taken to a hospital? That was unlikely. Hospitals had doctors: suited for caring for human ailments. Perhaps he was in a Pokémon center, and his poisoning had been dealt with by the fabled healing powers of Nurse Joy? Alas, even that did not seem very likely. His mom was a veterinarian; she worked with wild Pokémon and knew how to heal many. She had refused to allow Alvin to take Des to the Pokémon center when he had burned himself on the stove four weeks prior (during one of Alvin's frequent, albeit short, visits home during his summertime quest to become a successful Pokémon trainer), forcing Alvin to wait as his mother slowly nursed his burned left lower paw. She had done a marvelous job, but Alvin would've preferred to seen his beloved pikachu restored in one of those seemingly magic healing machines, which could take injured Pokémon and restore them to nearly-new condition, so long as their injuries were not severe.

He could not know, at least not yet, how dire his situation had actually been… how close to death he had come. Nor did he know by what virtue he was still alive, even if that life was in the body of some strange animal. True, he did think pichu were cute, perhaps even more-so than their adult counterparts, but that cuteness was accentuated ever-so-much when he was looking down at them, or at pictures, not at a mirror (Although he was interested in using a mirror to examine his appearance as soon as such as available). He did not know what had become of him in the time he had been out, but he intended to divine it.

Ignoring the pain in his side, Alvin pushed himself into an almost human sitting position, carefully surveying the surrounding area. He had been right in assuming his mother would not allow injured Pokémon she discovered to be taken to a Pokémon center, and for once, he appreciated the policy. Had he been taken there, he probably would've been taken to an adoption agency. Not that he would have any problem finding a home, being so young and having such an appearance, but being raised by some stranger, as an animal… it would be the undoing of his yet-fragile mind.

He was sitting on Des's old pet-bed, the one he had slept on back when he was a pichu, before he had bonded with Alvin enough to sleep (when he was not away) at the foot of his bed, sometimes closer when the night was cold enough. The small (or at least he had thought it so before) pet bed had been placed in the smallest corner of the downstairs living-room, surrounded by Des's other toys. This was Des's play area, and where he slept when Alvin was away. The vaguely cat-like toys surrounding him seemed not so much like a few feline climbing structures, not anymore. Now, they seemed like a vast fort of obstacles, platforms, small slides, and balls, with multiple floors, and covered with an almost velvety carpet of fake grass. The ground in the immediate area, too, was carpeted with this soft version of Astro-Turf, and the scents all around him screamed that he was in Des's territory: Which meant he was safe. Though Des's area held barely five square feet, it seemed at least thirty from Alvin's perspective. The structures and toys surrounding him simply begged to be climbed and played with. Had it not been for the overwhelming curiosity he felt for his own circumstance, he would have. As it was, that would have to wait.

The expanse of normal carpet beyond his little "pet island" seemed so vast in all directions, with the sharp vertical incline of the walls behind him creating a slight sense of fear, just strong enough to overcome the reassurance Des's strong scent provided. On his left hand was the rear wall of the couch, stretching up an apparent twenty feet into the sky (though it was only four feet in height), and on his left, the kitchen loomed in the far distance, the strange, round, glinting metal objects hanging from their rack just above the island that held the sink. _Pots_, He remembered dully. For some reason, the names for some of the objects around him were slower coming than others. Still, no name alluded him completely… no name except for the tower (bookshelf) of polished wood beside him, stretching all the way to the ceiling. From his current position, he could not see the stacks of square, slightly elevated reflective cardboard objects he would doubtless recognize as books.

The whole place looked so foreboding, so intimidating, and above all, so large! Only the area upon which he now rested seemed to be scaled properly (if slightly large, considering the toys were build for an animal a quarter-foot larger, but the difference was moot) to his size, an island in a see of unsure futures.

"Hello… is anyone there?" He called out, climbing (with difficulty) over the side of the pet bed and onto the pseudo-grass, lifting his body to that meerkat-like stance, standing on two legs with arms tucked in. The room seemed slightly less intimidating when he was nearly a foot off the ground rather than only a few inches, but his body could not maintain the position for long. He tried to walk over to the traditional carpet, which while being a friendly looking dark green, was of plush rather than "grass". The Astro-Turf felt strange underfoot, but not unpleasant. Quite the contrary, the rather cool sensation it produced along his lower paws felt good, if only just. He could not walk on two paws for long, however. It felt strange, unnatural, and his stance was unsure to the highest extent. Within a few steps, he fell back onto four paws, slightly dazed from the distance between where his head had been and the ground, not to mention the sudden impact.

He began to move again, however slowly, climbing over and around the toys until he reached open ground, and the carpet. He did not, however, step off the grass. Though Des's scent trails crisscrossed the floor and many of the other objects in all directions, in no place was it present in such strength as here. "Hello! Is anyone here? Can anyone hear me?" He felt like an astronaut, about to step off of the ladder onto an alien world, yet he was quite literally still inside his own living room. How long had it been, and where was everyone? The light filtering into the room from the cracked blinds on the windows behind him was of white, not yellow or purple, meaning it was neither afternoon nor evening. Just how long had he been out? Early morning light meant it had been at least a day, possibly more.

Then he remembered: It had been Des's voice that had brought him back, where was he? Had he only imagined it? As if in answer to this thought, his pikachu jumped out from under his hiding place under one of the slides, driving straight into Alvin's side and sending the both of them sprawling, one atop the other, in the carpet. It went against the grain of Alvin's fur, a subject of great irritation. This was nothing, however, to how annoyed he was at Des, with front paws perched atop his chest, keeping his body immobile and pinned in the carpet. Alvin's body, however, was not so much angry with Des as happy with him, and to see him in general.

Alvin tried to remember that play was how young animals built strength, and how adults taught them principals they would need to survive on their own, so playing with Des would make his body feel good (no doubt an evolutionary encouragement for him to build more strength, and to learn more) , but the entire concept was lost after only a few moments. Like walking down stairs into the kitchen only to find that one has forgotten what one set out to retrieve, the thought slipped through Alvin's head and onto the floor, where it was promptly absorbed by the carpet (or at least it would've been, had thought any substance to it, and that substance been liquid.)

"Get.. off… me!" Alvin protested, struggling for a moment under Des's weight (which was about triple his own, and fortunately, not all on him), before forcing the pikachu's forepaws off of his chest, and flipping around to stand again as was most comfortable, on four legs, this time facing his friend. He knew Des had meant well, but just now… he was so stressed, and so confused, all he wanted to do was strike out and criticize Des for his lack of judgment, completely forgetting that he was an animal and knew no better. He was trained not to "play" in that way with other humans, but had never been taught to ignore other Pokémon. With another (nearly) or his species, no amount of conditioning would've prevented him, anyway.

"I'm… I…" Alvin struggled to connect the jigsaw-puzzle of pichu words floating around his head into a proper sentence. As he soon discovered, that puzzle was making much more sense than it had when he had last spoken. "Need to know… what happened. Why am I here? How did I… get here? Why didn't… the bite? Was it a bite?"

Des waited patiently for Alvin to finish his questions, or what were trying to pass as them, moving to a two-legged stance and glancing around the room as he waited. When Alvin was finished, Des began to explain, or at least, in the best way possible for an animal. Had he not been a domestic one, he might not have remembered enough from that many days in the past to provide Alvin with satisfactory answers. Fortunately for the both of them, however, Des was somewhat at the top of the pikachu bell-curve.

"You were bitten by an ekans. I shocked it before it bit you again…" He paused, moving a bit closer and laying one paw on his injury in a very empathic gesture. "The big human female came soon… she saw me, and saw that you were hurt…" Another pause as Des thought back through the curtain of time and tried to remember the details. "She made some loud sounds, let go of that flat, shiny pouch full of unchewed nesting material." (briefcase) "And came over to you." He smiled in spite of himself, still thinking back. "The other, smaller female took me inside, and we waited. The big one was alone with you a long time… she made a lot of sounds like the ones all humans make when they get mad or hurt… then she brought you in here with that thing stuck to you, and put you down on my old bed."

Alvin was privately surprised that word existed. He hadn't tried to say it yet, but hadn't expected it. Although, he had not really got a chance to think about every single human object. Perhaps there were more objects from their… no… his… perhaps there were more objects from his world that had names in this strange language. Des's description of a briefcase had been a bit strange, but had not failed to convey its meaning.

"The big female gave you milk in… some transparent, magic container, even though you weren't really awake, and it didn't really work… every few hours. You stayed there for all of that day and all of the next… we didn't know if you would be ok." A bit of worry crossed his face, out of concern for his trainer, and out of concern for another of his kind. "I don't know how you could have made it… you are small, an ekans bite should have killed you."

Alvin smiled in spite of himself as he listened to this tail. So, his mother's expert medical skills had saved him. Well, she wasn't an expert, but something as simple as a snakebite was not at all beyond her ability to heal. No doubt she had administered one of those Pokémon healing potions, as well as a proper anti-venom. Could he explain that to Des? He could try. "The snake only got me with… one of its… fangs. The large female used a potion, like… like the one I use on you when you're hurt in battle, only… only they make it… for snakebites… it heals them. She had to have… got it into me soon, or I wouldn't have lived…" Alvin slowly pawed his way over to the couch, prodding it lightly and turning his head sideways to look completely up its surface; an almost offhand investigation, with little purpose than to give him something to do. True, the fabric did look and smell very different to him now, but it was hardly worth as much consideration as he was giving it.

"She did… and she stayed with you for a long time in that room with the tall white walls… I don't know what she was doing."

What had she been doing? A few sniffs of himself when he had awoken had told him his fur had smelled slightly different, but he hadn't really paid much mind to it, until now. His fur was softer, if that were possible, than it had been when he first became what he was, and had a slightly floral, unnatural scent to it, the smells of the forest gone. She had washed him. This brought up another point he had tried very hard to ignore. He was naked! His sister and his mother had both seen him! His cheeks lit up again with embarrassment, a few stray bolts of electricity darting off to be absorbed by the carpeting. This made him "blush" still further, but this time at his lack of control. He wasn't even a proper animal! What could he do? None of his clothes would fit, and his parents had not saved any of his baby clothes. How ironic…

So not only was he an animal, he was naked. But then, not his parents, nor his sister, knew what had become of him, so it was really not all bad. They thought him a wild animal, and so would not have thought twice about it. He only hoped they had actually been wrong. He wasn't an animal! Couldn't be… wouldn't let himself be…

"The large female was… worried about you, but not about you. They kept saying… asking me where you were. I told them, pointed to you, even picked you up once, but they didn't understand. Humans never understand… except you! You always could understand me!"

Alvin blushed again at this slight criticism of humans Des was right, after all. Humans could never understand them properly. How foolish they were, unable to understand such a simple language! _No! It isn't their fault… they don't think us intelligent enough for proper communication! _To his horror, he realized a few seconds too late that he had switched the pronouns in his own thoughts… or at least, they would have to be switched to conform with that delicate physiological imaginative-present he had constructed, where the transformation had effected only his body. In reality, however, such was not the case. His mind was just as parley to change as his body. If anything, it was more receptive to those changes.

_They'll figure it out someday! I did!_

Indeed Alvin had always thought Des to be, and hence, had always treated Des as, an intelligent creature. All animals were intelligent, just less than humans. Such understand had allowed him to learn to understand his Pokémon so well.

"I couldn't understand you… the way I do now." His smile vanished, and he turned back to Des. "I only knew what a few sounds meant. I knew your needs… and I knew… how to meet them."

"Still… if you asked something, I answered, and you knew what I said."

"More or less…"

Des couldn't tell why Alvin was suddenly so insistent humans couldn't understand Pokémon. It was true enough, but by the way he was talking, it sounded to Des almost as though Alvin was trying to defend himself, or to attack humans. Why would he be doing that? Wasn't he human? Not on the outside… not anymore...

Alvin remained silent for a time, looking around at what, until a few days before, had been one of his favorite rooms in the house. Now the whole place was so… so big! He felt like he was in a coliseum! And but for that small corner he had just left, nothing in the room seemed to make as much sense as it had, and was clearly not made for his taking advantage of.

When he had first awoken, the feeling of hunger had been a dull gnawing of his insides, but now… as their conversation, and time wore on, he was beginning to feel like he hadn't eaten in days, which was true. Very thirsty and EXTREMELY hungry, he could suffer this idle conversation no longer. When one become this hungry, animal instincts were impossible to fight, impossible to resist.

"I need food… I need lots of food. Where can I get some?" Though it would return when he got the food he needed, his mind was, for the moment, slipping away from him like water through cupped hands. He could only hold so much for so long. Had he been a bit more alert, he might've thought to open the fridge and pull an apple from the crisper, which just happened to be the only drawer within his reach. Instead, he relied on Des, the older, the guardian, to take care of this need. Fortunately enough, his parents had already thought to provide for the both of them with food. The food-bowl just beside the back-door was filled to the very brim with Poke-chow, as well as the water bowl beside it was filled with, what it was intended to carry.

All that Alvin needed was for Des to point in their general direction before he dashed off across the room, aware only of his extreme hunger and thirst. His short claws skidded when he transitioned from the carpet to the wood floor, but he did not falter and had arrived at the food before Des could say a thing in the defense of his ration.

The pichu thought nothing for the taste of the generalized Pokémon food (which wasn't all that bad to his pichu palette anyway), but quite literally stuffed himself with all that he could possibly eat, consuming the small cylindrical objects at such a pace it was a wonder the fragment from one partially chewed did not become lodged in his throat. Before too long, he had stuffed himself to bursting, not to mention drunk a good fourth of the water bowl. Though the amounts he had removed did not look large, they had amounted to roughly twenty percent his weight, which was no small amount, even for someone of about four pounds.

Des had approached in the brief time Alvin was eating, watching with both interest and amusement. "I see what the big female was doing with the milk didn't work… I need to eat, too, though. Save some!"

Weather it was by choice, or by the fact that another piece of Poke-Chow would've made his stomach burst, Alvin left about half the food and three fourths the water, taking a few unsure steps back onto the carpet and stretching out in a content way, a smile on his face as he closed his eyes to rest.

_At least he isn't starving anymore… _Des thought, going to work on the remainder of the food and water, which he finished, but in much more time than it had taken Alvin to eat his fill. _And when he wakes up, we can play! I've always wanted to play with Alvin on the toys, and now I can!_

This whole situation, aside for the Cubone and Alvin being bitten had gone by like a dream for Desumo. Since Alvin's parents had found him abandoned and injured in the woods, and given him to Alvin to care for (as a pet, though he later became Alvin's first Pokémon). For so many years, Alvin had protected Des, and played with him, and tried to teach him things (though more often, human concepts were lost to him). For so long he had felt guilty… a concept that had not fallen on def ears… and taking without giving back. Then Alvin had become a trainer, and Des began to feel they were becoming equals. He would get food, attention, and all else he desired (except for the company of another of his species), and in return, he would fight in battles for Alvin, risking life and limb in the quest for their combined glory. That had felt like a good start, but now… now he could fully return what his former master had given, and would have company. True, Alvin wasn't completely the same as a member of his own species, and having a female would've been nice, but for the most part… this transformation of the smaller male human who had been his trainer for the full three years of his life he could remember, ever since he had been as small as Alvin was now, had worked out with nothing but positive results.

Des could not possibly imagine all that Alvin had given up in the process. Animal life was more fun, perhaps, and with much more tolerance for doing what you wanted, but for humans, Alvin being no exception, leaving something behind you and making the world better for your kind was one of the fundamentals of life's objectives. And animals have a tendency to leave nothing behind them but their descendents, and in the case of less social animals, care nothing for the welfare of their kind. At least Alvin had become a very social animal, it could've been worlds worse. Not to mention all the other opportunities denied to a Pokémon. Alvin would never hold a job, or enjoy the rewards it brought (as well as being spared from the costs), never marry, and never hold public office. He no longer hand any more right than his owner gave him. As much as Alvin had thought his mother had been overprotective of him when he was a trainer, being literally owned by his parents… a disturbing thought, to say nothing of what might happen if they got rid of him.

Neither of them thought anything of this, however. Des had moved quickly beside Alvin, curling beside him in a very protective fashion and quickly dozing off before a scarce few moments more had passed.

Alvin awoke again about an hour later (enough time for some of the food in his system to start moving again), and this time, it was not to the echoing, drawn-out voice of his pikachu friend. This time, he had been the first to wake up. Now that he had eaten, primal instincts had faded again behind his human mind, which was, from the instant he woke up, filled with worries and fears. Why hadn't his parents thrown him out yet? What would happen if they did? What did people think had happened to him? They wouldn't have even thought him to be missing until much later that day, when school ended. That meant he had only been gone for a day and a half… did they think him a run-away?

Whatever they thought, he had to set them straight, and soon. Before they gave him away, if indeed that was what they indented to do with him. But how? He could speak and understand Des, which meant he could not speak English. Not that it would be likely to be within his biological capacity even if he still knew how. His animal muzzle was unsuited for such a language. Despite the similarities, he just wasn't physically capable of speaking English (that he knew), at least not without help.

Perhaps he could write them a note, or type it on his computer and print it out. Perhaps he could communicate to them by accomplishing a task beyond any Pokémon, such as using a complex tool. No, that wouldn't work either. He might type by stepping on the keys with whole paws, but complex tools usually required opposable thumbs, of which he was now two short.

He needed to find a way, and fast. Before they awoke, or if they were gone, before they returned.

_I can still think in English, and I know Des can understand a great deal of it. If I can still understand it, I'll understand them, and find a way to get the message across._

To this, though, he was quickly running out of time. There existed the possibility that his parents might turn him over to an adoption agency at any moment. Perhaps, if they thought him ran away, they might give Des and his new friend back to one of their relatives to care for. If that happened, Alvin knew there would be no chance of ever getting back to how he had been. He had to get back, and somehow, he knew that had to start with his parents. If he failed here, he was lost.

Alvin pushed Des awake beside him, pressing against the larger mouse's side with his right forepaw. "Des… wake up… we've got work to do…"

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A/N: That's all you get in this installment! I liked those technical reviews I got today… or is it yesterday… so much that I decided to go crazy and write another whole chapter.

As per request of FoxyJosh, rants will be directed to the end, and responses to reviews will go in front. Naturally, you don't have to read this... come to think of it, even if I said you were "required" to read it, it wouldn't make a difference anyway.

I've been writing all night… so tired… but I won't be able to do this forever. When school starts again, I'm afraid I may have to return to a weekly update schedule. Who knows, though: If I get enough reviews, I may go crazy again. There's no school on Monday, I don't see it as impossible.

Every five chapters I will be going back and proofreading, searching for those errors I know are as plentiful in this story as letters in alphabet soup. Try to hold on until then, but please don't hesitate to point out every single one!

That's all for now! Goodnight! Or is it… good morning?


	4. Disappointed Perception

Chapter 4: Disappointed Perception

A/N: Come on people! I've been busting my buns all week to get more of this story out! And last night… a whole chapter in six hours… I think I've set some sort of record. But this is getting to sound a bit like a rant, isn't it? So if you want, skip to the end and finish it. Then again, I take it you clicked on that link for the story, not for my ranting. 

This is the place I would respond to reviews, which I shall do in a moment. Only problem is, at the time of this writing, I only have one more than last time! GET ON IT! I'm going to need at least three more before I write another chapter, so if you want to keep reading, pop me a comment. Even if it is to tell me I'm a failure as a human being, I would love to hear it!

Kazundo's Advocate: I don't know if there is any way for me to properly thank you for your service! Not only did you review twice, but you gave suggestion and technical criticism, which is what I want more than anything (although I don't complain to hear anything from those who read, even if it is only a line or to of compliment or complaint). At first, I didn't intend for Alvin's parents to figure out what had happened to him, thinking, as you originally pointed out, that such seems to be somewhat overused and cliché. But since you mentioned it, I realized that not having his parents' reassurance, even if it was for but a small moment would tear him to pieces. That isn't to say it will be easy… AHH! I've already said too much. Shutting up now!

Biffiea: Sorry I didn't pop a comment into the last chapter for your review… I was going to, but then, as you saw, my responses tended to build up. I was already nearing the end of two pages and didn't want to push it into three. I like the mental aspect of this story almost more than the physical one. I find it fascinating to write about something like this… to thrust poor Alvin into situations and turn around to have him act as I do. It's quite entertaining. I wish I had made him smarter, though.

Ri2: I must thank you as I did Kazundo's Advocate, and apologize as with Biffiea for not getting in some kind of response in my third chapter. I almost wrote more response to reviews than story, and would've had I kept going. Thank you for your compliments! As I said before, it's reviews like that, which keep me going. Keep 'em coming! I've tried to focus on the aspects you pointed out, as you may notice in chapter three, and in the chapter which will follow this.

Foxyjosh: I have to thank you for reviewing yet again. I will try to stress things a bit more from Des's POV in the upcoming chapter, but I may not get a chance until the chapter to follow. Thank you, regardless.

Reeds89: I can't remember if I replied or not to your review, so I'll plop one in here just to be sure. I thank you, that you could possibly consider this puny work to be comparable to its inspiration, (and yes, I've stopped calling it the same universe, as much as its basis of creation. The apple on Newton's head…) but I thank you all the same!

That's all on the area of reviews, which has left me with quite a desire to rant. That's been saved for the end… in the mean-time, the time has come for me to start writing. Bear with me, this chapter might be a bit messy.

This chapter has been edited in the hopes of cutting down on some of the error as of 1/15/07 7:15 PM.

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The plan was a brilliant one, or at least, Alvin thought so. It was so simple, so blatantly obvious that, in his opinion, one would have to be a fool to not make instant grasp of the concept he was trying to relay.

What Alvin did not think about, what did not click within his brain, was that people didn't go around turning into animals. Until a few days ago, when he had himself, the possibility would've never occurred to him, not even in his wildest dreams. But then, fate was rarely forgiving: It had forced him to see the error in his judgment in the cruelest of ways.

During the plan's implementation, Alvin had hit only one major setback: He could no longer write… and only the simplest of written words were legible to him. It seems only those words with pichu equivalents in written English could be understood. Though he could think the sounds of the other words in his head, they no longer meant anything. Or at least, nothing real. His mind seemed to connect random nonsense to the other words, making for some very… interesting reads.

This was no minor setback, considering his first plan had been to dump flour all over the wood floor, and use one paw to write "AlvinPichu". When one of his parents walked in, no doubt upset by the mess and thinking it had been written by someone else, he would scurry away and write it again in an undisturbed patch of flour. That would do the trick… it might've, too, had he been able to implement it. Unfortunately, it was not until he had already spread a sizeable patch of flour across one corner of the kitchen floor did he discover that his mind had already linked pichu words with English written ones. He was writing, all right, but he doubted his parents would make much sense of "Pi pichu p-pi!" written in the flour. Perhaps they would've assumed him a new mental breakthrough in Pokémon intelligence. That he was, but it was a far cry from being human.

He left the few nonsensical scribblings in the flour, however, hoping they might aid in his argument, and might perhaps point his parents a bit closer to the truth about him, and set upon other goals. It had taken some time, but he had figured out another alternative.

As it turned out, Alvin's parents had been out all of the previous night retracing the steps of their son, sick with worry as to his fate. They knew not weather he had ran or had fallen to some ill circumstance, but would not return for some time. Alvin's older sister had an open first, and would not awaken for a good hour, still. Even when she did, with Alvin's parents away, it was unlikely she would even enter the kitchen. The pichu was counting on it.

With Des's help, he had thoroughly rearranged the kitchen and living room areas, with as many clues as he could possibly conceive that might indicate to his parents what fate had befallen him.

First, he had taken several of the lighter potatoes out of the bag from the pantry and made several piles arranged in circular formation around a small framed picture of himself (taken several years ago, during the trip to one of the coastal islands where he learned to Scuba dive). One pile had two potatoes, the next three, then five, then seven, eleven, and finally thirteen (he wanted to do more, but there weren't any more potatoes light enough, and Des was tiring of assisting in the transportation of produce. It would have to do. First glance at the piles would've told one little, other than the two electrical rodents were fond of creating large messes. Anyone with an even slightly mathematical mind who looked closer, would see a bit more; prime numbers in every pile, as well as a prime number of piles. Such mathematical understanding was basic for any human being, but completely beyond any animal (Alvin had once tried to teach Des of numbers, with little success).

In case that was not enough, he had taken the couch pillows and piles them in three equal stacks, arrayed in a triangular formation, with three pillows in each stack. (This had been most difficult for Alvin, as the pillows were beyond his capacity to drag, let alone lift). The green plush pillows were all placed in a stack, and the red, and the brown. Also, it seemed to Alvin, far beyond the ability of an animal.

The pichu had also conceived one final plan, one last, surefire shot at communicating to whoever next entered the room what had become of him. His sister was long gone to school before the two "Mice" had reached that point. It had taken some doing, and quite some digging in the back of the closet (which, fortunately, his sister had left open in the usual teenage way. Though Alvin remembered how to use doorknobs, they were much too high, and he was yet to practice jumping with precision), and required the two to make quite a mess to locate, but he had do it. Alvin's old alphabet blocks, the ones he formerly loved as a baby (oh the irony), shelved in the back (the downstairs closet was somewhat of a passage, with a good portion of floor space with a progressively sloping ceiling). It had taken both Alvin and Des all of their strength to tug the open-topped plastic crate out from the closet, pushed it over to the kitchen floor beside Alvin's other three attempts, and Alvin was just beginning to arrange the blocks when he heard a key slide into the front door, and the lock click open.

Such was not loud, but ears nearly as big as your head had their advantages. "They're coming! I… don't know what to do!" Assembling the blocks into words, however small, was a tedious task to say the least. It had taken him a good five minutes to write his name, followed by the word "is."

It was a lucky thing he had even retained the ability to puzzle letters into words. He couldn't write, but fortunately, when the letters were already there, his now much-smaller mind switched over to whatever capacity for understanding English he had retained, as well as its written forms. It felt like the most difficult of brain-teasers, and but so much stress on his head he thought it was to explode, but he did it. He would've finished, too, had his parents not come walking in on him at that exact moment.

Apparently the disappearance of Alvin had granted his father a bit of leave from work, which was why he walked in beside his wife. The pair were walking slowly, deliberately, a mournful and determined gate. They walked past the closet, not even noticing its contents, which had been carefully organized when they left, had been ripped to pieces. Though the two were paying little attention to their surroundings, when they turned the corner into the kitchen/living room, both of which had been thoroughly ripped apart, they would've had to be complete fools to fail to notice what had happened inside. Alvin's mother, already weakened by the disappearance of their only son, and very, very disturbed by mess, actually screamed at the sight, a high, shrill sound, which echoed for a moment around the spacious kitchen before dying away.

Their son, who had turned around to face the entry to the kitchen, standing on two legs atop a pile of blocks just before his parents had entered, was so intimidated by the pitch and volume of his mother's scream that he fell back to that human-like sitting position. So loud, and so close! It had to be a predator, or something else that wished him harm! Run! Flee! His instincts echoed again and again inside his head, raising more fear with every passing second. After only three, he became so overwhelmed by it all that the small body could hold so much human emotion no longer: He began to cry. buried his face in his hands, a distinctly human expression.

His crying was so faint, and the combined area taken by himself, and the pile of blocks so insignificant in comparison to the gigantic messes the two rodents had created in the process of creating the messages that Alvin was not even noticed, at least not at first. Des, who had got bored of Alvin's struggle with the symbol-wood, had taken to playing in his little fort instead.

"And on top of what we've already got on our plate… this mess!" Alvin's father had said, taking the broom from behind the fridge and sweeping up the flour, not even noticing what was written inside it. Alvin was still crying, so failed to notice this. Had he, he probably would've cried more anyway.

"Rick… stop…" Alvin's mother said, her voice drifting and distant. She almost never used a voice like that, and her husband knew it. She was quite a bit more mathematically minded than he, and was hence first to detect any pattern in the kitchen's corner. While Rick had just stepped around them, the two strange formation were what she had her eyes fixed on, before turning them to the area directly in front of her, the transition between carpet and wood, and found Alvin, sitting atop the pile of blocks in a very human way, and crying.

"Why?" All these concepts had slipped his mind, at least for the moment. He would understand, in time, but left to his own devices, those patterns Alvin had left would've been destroyed. It was a good thing he had not come before Alvin's mother. "Des and his new friend had a bit too much fun, it would seem. I want this cleaned up before Melissa returns home and gets things messy all over again…" He stopped, however, turning to his wife with questioning eyes.

"No… don't you see? Look at the potatoes! Notice anything?"

Rick turned his eyes down, looking at the potatoes intensely for a moment. He didn't get it. "They knocked Alvin's picture down and moved it over-"

"What would make them do that?" Alvin's mother's voice was tight and strict, now, all airiness gone. The voice she used when she was frustrated with Rick.

She used it almost as rarely as that airy tone… so much so that Alvin stopped crying, looking up at her with a twinge of hope in his eyes. Had she understood?

"I don't know! They're animals. Animals do things for no reason! It's what makes them animals!"

She sighed, looking away from him for a good few moments. When she began speaking again, the exasperated tone in her voice was amplified. "Look there. Count the potatoes." This time, she did not wait for him to make some half-brained retort. "The numbers: three, five, seven, eleven, thirteen, then Alvin's picture in the center positioned so that all four corners of its frame line up with a pile of potatoes. Doesn't it seem the least bit strange to you? Those are prime numbers…" For a moment, her voice again possessed that airy, disconcerted tone, but it quickly evaporated. "And look… a triangle… nine… three stacks of three… do playing Pokémon just happen to create messes like this? Two of them? Maybe three… did you look at the flour before you swept it up? I doubt it…"

Rick stood speechless, mouth hanging open, listening as his wife explained what should've been obvious to him. He watched as she strode slowly over to the pichu she had demanded they take in two days before.

Alvin unwittingly scooted back further into the pile of blocks as his mother walked over to him. He tried to ignore his instinct, but could not do so completely. "Mom… it's me!" He said in as steady a tone as he could, unable to keep eye contact with her without feeling a sense of fear to some degree. "Alvin!"

Sadly, his words were as lost to her as numbers were to Des. But the words he had written with blocks were not…

"Look at this!" She practically shouted, pointing to the blocks Alvin had managed to arrange before their arrival. "A-L-V-I-N is-" Her excitement seemed to be growing. "I think this pichu knows something about what happened to Alvin!"

Alvin nearly screamed with exasperation, and would've, had he not known it would have done little for his argument. He had been so close, so close! How had his parents been so stupid? For pitty's sake, he had written it! "No! I don't know what happened to Alvin, I AM ALVIN!"

His parents, being no better at understanding the Pokémon language than the average human, completely misunderstood the sounds Alvin made. "See!" Alvin's mother exclaimed, dropping down to her knees and looking directly down at him. "What happened to Alvin?"

The youth (( :) )) (though not so much anymore) in question leapt out from his half-buried position in the blocks, pawing his way over to his name. He pointed repeatedly to himself, then to the name, and back again. His parents didn't get the message.

"Yes… we know you know about Alvin, where is he? Where is my son?" Rick had dropped down to his knees beside his wife, the broom falling limp and ignored behind him. His wife had convinced him.

At least Alvin had their attention. He needed to think… he dad always said it, and it had been true, that he had a talent for using his head to get out of sticky situations. _Here's one now, Alvin… you can do it!_ He told himself, looking up at his parents with unsure eyes. At the same time, however, something else popped into his head. It was a strange, unsure thought, nothing he would've put there willingly. When he was a child, adults would often run a playful hand through his head. He had hated it! It had made him feel so much more like a child. And now, he imagined them doing the same thing, running a hand through that spot of fur on his back he couldn't quite reach… _NO! I'm not an animal! I don't want them to… do that!_

His parents watched him expectantly, waiting, hoping he would signal them with the information they desired. They were not disappointed, but the result could hardly be what they had expected. Alvin had taken to try and assemble the final word of his message. Alvin in… he had added the first letter, the letter "P" of the final word, when he discovered that, to his horror, he could not properly transcribe the word "Pichu."

He stood motionless for some time, the letter "E" in his mouth, "P" already in place. There were only two "I"s, and he had already used both. Of all the restrictions that could've possibly prevented him from sending the message, this seemed by far the least dignified… stopped by a practical lack of the letter "I".

Nearly driven to insanity by the sudden burst of anger, Alvin screamed in frustration, spitting out the "E" as he did so. "Why? Why me! And why this?" He sat down limply, avoid eye contact with his parents, who were leaning progressively closer and closer in order to try and ascertain what message he could possibly be trying to convey.

The answer came to him like most other great ideas throughout the ages have come, seemingly from nowhere, out of the depths of the void between conscious and semiconscious, floating before his eyes like a cloud before the noonday sun. It was so simple, so plain… how had he not seen it before now?

The pichu sat up quickly, roughly pushing the "P" out of the way with one paw and sliding the "E" into its place. Then, with one smooth forward thrust of his left forepaw, Alvin pushed the final letter into the large gap between the "S" and the "E". The letter "M".

Alvin's parents stared shamelessly down at him, both of their jaws dropping at exactly the same moment; Almost like they were synchronized.

"Impossible…" His father stuttered for a moment, not even forming complete words. It was impossible, had to be. But then, pichu didn't make geometric patterns with produce, or have any idea what a prime number was.

"You're… you… Alvin, is that you?" Alvin's mother's voice was shocked, but with a soothing tone to it. Unlike Rick, who thought (at least at first) only for the negative that this situation had just thrust upon the whole family, Alvin's mother thought of the hardships her son had been through before thinking of the future for them all.

The pichu nodded solemnly, darting right up to her and standing on two legs. Despite her being on her knees, Alvin was still a good few feet away from eye level. "You have no idea what I've been through!"

And in some, inexplicable way, she understood. "It's alright… everything will be ok now…"

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A/N: Can you belive it? Two chapters in two days? I must've blown a fuse! Or more accurate, I want more reviews! Hey, look, it rhymes! Now just try to stay in time…

That's enough of that. Nearly three hundred hits… that's almost a hundred hits a chapter! Perhaps that's an insignificant amount, but it does not seem so to me, a first time author.

Alright, it's time for the final reason for this particular rant: I need help. Let me outline my dilemma…

Despite reviews to the contrary, the fact stands that I know very, very little about the Pokémon world. The time will soon come that Alvin shall be required to leave the safety of his home in search of a cure to what has happened to him. That will require knowledge of Pokémon I do not have to write. If anyone would be willing to help me out with information on this regard, by answering questions and listening to my ideas before I publish them, I would be most grateful! Let me know in a review.

All right, I can't write any more. I'm so nauseated right now… If I try, I'll throw up. Peace out!


	5. Former Oversight

Chapter Five: Former Oversight

Three hundred and fifty hits, and still going! I think I'll throw myself a parade… right after writing this. Stick around. I'll save some confetti. Seriously though, I guess updating every day has its perks. I wanted to post this on Saturday too… I really did… but, unfortunately, because it's a new year, I've got to go in to church at nine instead of one, and I can't stay up late enough to write another whole chapter. Sorry you're reading this on Sunday… or Monday… instead of late Saturday night. I'll do better next time. Really!

Reeds89: Thank you for yet another review! They are what keep me going, and without them, I would stop. I need three to post a new chapter… or two if I'm feeling nice. If you run out of good things to say, you could always stress the bad. I like to know, so I can improve.

TrippleC: Yes, his father is a dimwit. Somehow I don't think that will be the last time such impedes Alvin's progress. He isn't a bad guy or anything, just more all brawn and little brains.

RustyRaccoon: I could not be more honored to receive a review from you. Without your work, this story would not exist. I would write a page in response to this, were it permissible. I doubt anyone would approve, however, so I'll try to keep things short. To start, I don't feel Pokémon (while they may be very close), to be of equal intelligence to humans. If they were, they wouldn't be eating each other… but that's just me. Unfortunately, at least for me, you seem to have stumbled onto a bit of my next plan. Yes, they are very close, at least in this universe, which means that after the initial shock wears off, and Alvin's mind adapts "to the new operating system", he will be getting most of what was lost back, assuming he could overcome all this instinct…

I have no doubts in my mind that Alvin will struggle with the issue of identity, and his own humanity. Along that path, he might even gain some limited capacity for speech. I'm not exactly sure how that will work out just yet… in any case, it will take some time to be overcome… at least I think so.

I knew someone would nail me for this eventually. Here's my opinion about calling him a young man: People (and just about every adult that I come to talk to with more than a greeting) have been calling me a young man since I was about thirteen. Maybe people in this little portion of California are just strange, but either way… I'll try to use it less often, but it's meant the same thing as teenager to me for several years now. Old habits, you know…

As to being sexist… I can't say I agree. It's a psychological fact that females notice details better and males have a better recognition of shapes… but either way, I absolutely hate the way that part sounds, so I will be changing it when I proofread… which will be the next update I post to the story.

I don't know what you will decide, but I will understand if you say no. I don't know how I would feel if someone asked to use one of my characters. I would have to be absolutely confident they would do justice to the character in question, and I would want to see the chapter to make sure before it was published. Whatever choice you make, such would not happen until much, much, further down the road. At the rate this is going, I may have to write more than one fanfiction before we get to that point. Thanks again for the review, and I would be most grateful for any input you may have in the future! Wow. I took just about a page anyway…

ri2: I know… I realized that when rereading it this morning… I'm ashamed. In case anyone hasn't figured it out by now I CAN'T SPELL TO SAVE MY LIFE! If it wasn't for the spell-check, my writing would be illegible.

Kazundo's Advocate: No, most humans don't. Alvin and his mother are alike: The two of them are unusually intelligent (and just as with his father, that isn't the last time we'll see it). Smart people notice things like that sometimes. Then again, sometimes people like that can't tie their own shoes.

Isn't it annoying how easily they get it! It's just females are wired differently, I suppose. Advantages and disadvantages…

Yes, I know all of those plots. I've read them way too many times. They've been done enough by others (although that last one didn't come to mind before now. Might see something like that sometime, but it won't be a main plot). I've got something else in store, something so unexpected… trust me, you haven't seen it before. At least, I haven't. I hope I won't disappoint anyone.

I will be most grateful for help when it is required (and I will message you on that note when my need becomes dire). My knowledge of the Pokémon world is all but spent. That's why I want to keep the plot as far from… never mind. TOO MUCH!

Serpent Magick: Thank you for your compliment, and for you commitment to help. I may be enlisting your aid before too long. (Which has its perks. You'll know about some of the plot before anyone else. The same holds true for anyone else that may choose to help me. Not that I would ask for more…)

Wow… that took quite some time. I'll make this chapter extra-long to compensate. Nearly four hundred and fifty hits, not to mention I got twice as many reviews as I asked (and they were helpful). No one has flamed me yet, which is a bit surprising. The story is still young. (In case you don't know, I'll be writing this story to about the length of the one that inspired it. Many chapters to go…)

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"Mom… it can't be! I've been turned into an animal! Life, for me, is over!" Alvin protested loudly as his mother picked him up and began to do just what he had thought about before. The amazing sensation created when she got those spots he couldn't… silenced his protests. It wasn't like they were doing any good. She couldn't understand him anyway.

Des, seeing that Alvin had succeeded in his quest, moved closer to watch, propping both forepaws on Alvin's mother's knee. A twinge of sadness was in his voice when he spoke. "You want to go back? Why? Life isn't over for us… just more fun!"

The pichu was so overwhelmed with sensations he almost couldn't reply. Being held by his mother like that… cradled… like a… baby. He almost couldn't bring himself to think it for the painful irony of it. First Des, and now his mother! Couldn't anyone treat him properly? He was fifteen! Not some little baby or small boy. His dreams had girls, not candy! Well… that wasn't true anymore. For the last two and a half days, he hadn't thought once about them, and his dreams were now… too strange to describe. ((for now. I'm in a lazy mood :) ))

At the same time as his human side was terribly upset, almost revolted from being held, NAKED, by his mother, the exact opposite could be said for his pichu side. Pichu had a higher body temperature by several degrees than humans. Thus, even though the kitchen was at room temperature, it was just a tad too cold for a pichu. Human body heat felt good… not to mention she seemed to know just where to scratch. Her working with Pokémon would seemed to have paid off for Alvin in yet another way, even if his human side wished for her to stop… well, half wished. Love was there too, mingled with only a tad of surprise and disgust. He couldn't blame her. Being turned into an animal had disgusted him too.

What he didn't understand was why making contact with skin felt so… alien to him. True, what his mother was doing felt good, but it was also… so strange. Not to mention her scent, which was nothing like his own. It was so familiar, but so foreign at the same time. Like someone had driven a steak through his brain.

Alvin turned his head to look down at Des from his position of being cradled by his mother. It had taken a bit of time, but he was ready to speak, or at least as ready as he could ever be in that position, anyway. "More fun… yes… but not as…" He struggled to find the proper words to complete the statement, not just because of the scrabbling of languages, but because he knew just how sensitive this particular Pikachu really was. And now that his situation was so close, and communication could work in both ways, he had a great deal more capacity to offend. "I want to be a trainer! I can't fight… I don't have… the instinct…" Well that wasn't true. He was so full of instinct he could almost feel it dripping out his ears. "I can't live like you do. I need to grow…"

His parents, who had been watching the conversation with interest (albeit lack of understanding), were no longer silent and still. At least, his mother no longer was.

"Can you… understand… Desumo?" She asked, her voice was touched with mild curiosity. Alvin nodded slowly, pushing away her hand, which was about to stroke the fur of his back yet again. She got the message, and set him down beside Des.

Des's expression of being slightly hurt and unsure turned to one of mild confusion. "You will grow! That's what pichu do! And when you grown enough, you evolve!" He seemed almost to be pleading, in some animal way, yes, but still pleading. It seemed almost human.

Alvin smiled in spite of himself, turning to face Des. Now the two were both standing in a bipedal stance, facing each other like two humans in a pleasant conversation (though the actual topic of discussion was far from being pleasant). If Alvin's parents had retained any doubt as to the identity of the pichu before them, it was gone now. "That isn't what I mean…" Alvin paused again, searching for the perfect words. "I want to learn! Those… things… humans have, humans make… I want to learn how to improve them… how they are made, and how to make new ones… I need to! I want to climb mountains! Remember what I did with those strange things on my face… that let me breathe under-water? I want to do it again! To…" Alas, there wasn't a word for ski. "I'm sure you understand."

Alvin nodded solemnly. He had been about to argue, to explain that running, and playing, and eating ripe strawberries were better than human things, and to let go of what was gone… but did not. His trainer clearly wanted to become human again. If that was what he wanted, Des would see it through to the end, not be an obstacle preventing it. At thus, with a few well chosen words, Alvin made his greatest ally in the days that were to follow. "Ok… I understand. You want to be human. I will try to help you… in any way I can."

Alvin nodded once more, and turned back to his parents, somehow forgetting (at least for a moment) that they would be unable to understand all he was about to say. "Mom… Dad… I… I'm sorry. If I hadn't went through… the forest… this wouldn't have happened to me. I'm sorry."

This time, it was Alvin's father who seemed to put what his son was saying from the void of the language burrier between them. Perhaps he was not completely incompetent. (Which he wasn't. Alvin's mother wouldn't have married him) After all, just because the man had a bit more straight-forward way of doing things didn't mean he was stupid. Or perhaps he was just better at reading body language. Perhaps looking ashamed was a universal expression across either species. Either way, he got the message. And now that he knew who his son was, he was no longer looking at him like an animal, or at least, much less so.

"Son… it isn't your fault." He gave Alvin a reassuring pat to the top of the head, (accidentally using the force he might've used with a distressed human), causing Alvin to stumble and fall forward onto four paws.

Alvin's expression was a slightly hurt one, but it was for the physical pain, not his father's accident. He, no doubt, would've made a similar mistake should their situations be reversed.

"Sorry!" Rick hastily corrected, lowering one hand and assisting Alvin to two paws again. At least he could stand properly... however unsteadily. "Don't worry, son. Your mom and I will find a way to change you back..."

If only that were true. There was no way, at least, no way that either of Alvin's parents knew, for a human being to suddenly become an animal, least of all one with an entire head smaller than a human brain. It didn't make sense! Sure, humans only used between three and ten percent of their entire brain at once, but all of it was used eventually! There just wasn't room for a human consciousness in a head that small. But it could not be denied that Alvin was there, for the most part. Something else was at work here, and neither Rick nor Molly knew what. ((Her name at last)) But regardless of what they knew or did not know, it was their responsibility to make life as easy as possible for their son. This was no different than an elderly citizen who had suffered a debilitating stroke. It was their responsibility to provide as much care and make life as easy as possible, until the solution came. (What Rick tried not to think about was: the solution to an elderly citizen who suffered a stroke was usually death. Just how long did pichu live?)

Without more than a glance between them, Alvin's parents stood, quickly turning their eyes down to Alvin once more. "We've got a lot to talk about… stay downstairs, and we'll be back soon." Rick said, turning and walking hand-in-hand with his wife, who had began to cry softly. Alvin tried to ignore it, but his hearing made that nearly impossible. He could hear it even after they turned upstairs and shut the door. When that happened, it instantly grew much louder. Clearly she had been holding back as not to hurt him.

The pichu suddenly smiled, returning full attention to Des. "You know: I think this is the first good thing that has come of this: They didn't make me clean up our mess!"

Des smiled weakly back. Alvin's constant reference to the inferiority of animals was getting to him. (Which spoke a great deal of his intelligence, to figure out what Alvin's subtle comments meant) "Yeah… want to play now?"

Perhaps that time had finally come. With every passing moment the desire to climb, to run, to slide… and just about everything else which could be accomplished with aid of the fort, seemed be be increasing. Alvin glanced back once to that little corner of the living room, at the fort, with its fuzzy carpet surfaces… and that one little tire swing… and the red rubber ball…

_NO! I have to concentrate! My fate is being decided upstairs, now isn't the time to play!_

"I would love to play… but not now. I have to see what my parents say about me." True eavesdropping wasn't the post polite thing, but neither was being changed into a small animal. It would be excusable "Just this once"

By the time Alvin had made up his mind, in that he /would/ listen in on his parents, and moved over to the base of the stairs in order to properly hear their words, he had missed a good few minutes of the conversation.

"…I don't see how you can blame him! You saw how scared he was… how unprepared! If he had wanted something like this to happen, Alvin would've been better prepared!" His mother, speaking in hushed tones, no doubt in an attempt to foil Alvin's sensitive hearing, in combination with the distance and the door. It didn't work.

Rick answered in a similar volume, but using a tone with much more an offensive note to it. He was on the attack, and Molly was defending. Defending Alvin. "I'm not saying he wanted to be turned into an animal! All I'm saying is that we're the ones who have to take the brunt of whatever consequences result from what has happened. What do we tell the school, the police? Hell, I don't even know what to tell Melissa! You know how teenagers are… she wouldn't believe it if we paid her, anyway. But regardless: People don't just fall off the map! He will be missed!" A hint of pain in his father's voice now. "That creepy friend of his... David … has already left three videophone messages asking where he has been! Alvin wasn't unpopular!"

_Yeah, right._ Alvin privately thought to himself, smirking. Pokémon trainers were less popular than they once were. Out of the thirty-three students in his ninth grade class, only five of them had been trainers. While all the other students murmured of animal cruelty and mistreatment, the five whom they so hated would be out gaining an understanding the others never could. Pokémon didn't fight because their trainers told them to: They fought because they desired it. Well, at least some did. And those that didn't, didn't battle. Sure, there was always the rare case (usually earning news coverage), some fanatical third-word psychopath, or some backwater hillbilly who forced their animals to fight each other (sometimes to the death) with whip and fist, but those instances were rare enough. For the most part, Alvin and the others were out getting to know the Pokémon of the world when the others did little more than eat them, or view their images on the news.

Whatever the case, Alvin and the others were quite a bit less than popular, earning them quite a bit of scorn while on school grounds. True, with each other, and with other trainers in higher and lower years (there were about one hundred and fifty in all out of a school of about two-thousand), they managed to have fairly successful terms, and to live happy lives when not training, but it was a far cry from popular.

David had it worse than any of them. Not only was he a trainer (being unnaturally suited for the task), but he also had /the gift/. David possessed a great deal of ESP, which, for some unknown reason, gave him the ability to perceive (most of the time against his will), the surface thoughts of others. The thing was not too unusual: A good one in one thousand would have some abilities, and one in fifty-thousand would be extraordinarily gifted. David, like many others of his unique circumstances, absolutely hated most people, and they in turn, feared and hated him. Alvin had been one of the few that got along with David, and that he did not despise, however. Something to do with having "less intrusive thoughts." Alvin had never really understood... never really cared... until now! With a burst of excitement, Alvin comply forgot about his parents' conversation, dashing down the corridor to his right and into the office.

It was all so clear now, so plain! Why had he not thought of this the second he had became a pichu? The solution was so simple it must've completely eluded him. He might not be able to become human again, at least not yet, but he could at least talk to one!

There remained now only one problem that had to be solved: How to communicate with David where he was. The solution was deceptively complicated. True, the video-phone was right there in the room with him, and Alvin could see David's name in back beside one of the speed-dial keys, but that did not solve it. For one, Alvin was too short to reach the phone, or to even climb onto the oaken computer desk beside and below it (which would've placed him at perfect level to stand before the camera). His body was capable, true, but he had no idea how to properly climb with his unique set of biological implements.

If he was to "play" with Des, that would be the first thing he would try. At least, it would if the human side got its way. (for some reason, his pichu side seemed to desire more and more to practice its electricity in a common game for their kind: a sort of tag, if you will)

And assuming he could even climb to the level of the phone, and didn't short it out by touching it (thank goodness he wasn't a magnimite), he still had no way of telling David to come over. There was no way to send thought over LAN-lines. Although... he smiled, turning sideways to again face the door, calling for Des in the process, maybe he wouldn't have to. David's cell phone had caller ID. If he called from the third house line, the line his parents usually ignored, and Alvin had modified to list as his name, and stand beside the camera holding his picture, or perhaps said some repeating of sounds into it, David might get the message. The young man was very, very good at reading faces, and was also highly fond of Pokémon. He might come over just to see the pichu, even if Alvin wasn't there. Or at least, he would think Alvin wasn't there, at least until he got within a few feet of him. When that happened, either he would know or the former adolescent would be out of ideas.

Alvin would try anyway. But like before, he would need Des's help. As if on cue, Des arrived, smiling widely. "Are you ready to play yet?"

"Sure! But first, I need to call a friend over... that way we can all play!" Alvin smiled sweetly back, so much so that it was almost a smirk. He didn't mean to lie to Des, (although technically, he wasn't lying), but the situation was, just as before with the mess he had made, strangely amusing. "Can you get my..." No word for picture "... the still reflection of me as a human... by the water that we used before, and get it onto the... big wood thing right there, and then help me up?" Boy, that was a mouthful. Picture took, what, seven words? And if they hadn't been standing beside the desk, his description of it would have been meaningless. Stupid thousand-word vocabulary!

"Easy! Hold on..." Des dashed out again, returning moments later with the picture in his mouth. Had Alvin been human, he would've complained about the scratching Des was helping to inflict, but after being a pichu for nearly three days now, he sympathized a great deal more with Des's no-handed posture. What did surprise Alvin, however, was that the pikachu did not climb to get on the desk, did not somehow run up one of its sides with aid of his claws. He didn't even need to get a running start! Des stopped about a foot from the desk, leaned back and leapt up cleanly. It wasn't a high desk, but the distance was at least four times Alvin's entire height. The equivalent of a human being jumping at least twenty feet into the air. Such was not unusual for Pokemon, least of all those as well trained as with as much experience as Des, but amazing to the former human eyes of the now-young Alvin. Des spat out the picture, spun quickly on the pads of his paws, and called down to Alvin: "Now you try! It's easy. Most pichu are good jumpers, I'm sure you are too!"

What Des did not know was that pichu and their more highly evolved (oh the irony) equivalents had roughly comparable muscle mass in their hind legs. This meant, with a highly reduced weight, pichu could jump great heights in comparison to their size... if only Alvin could see it. He remembered some of it, vaguely, but much of his knowledge, or at least, the knowledge he wasn't using regularly, was fading away, becoming harder and harder to access. The floodwaters were rising.

_It's easy Alvin, just a nice, smooth leap. One... two... three_! Though Alvin counted back, and moved to jump, it had been from a human stance and human perspective. Thus, when he released on three, he went barely a foot before slamming into the stained oak that was one of the desk drawers. He slid very little, having no sweat and no moisture, and all the musk having been washed from his fur. Rather, he fell even backwards; landing sprawled on his back (painfully pressing his tail flat against the floor, however short it was). "Poo!" He had almost exclaimed far fouler a word at the pain of his fall, but fortunately, no words existed in his new language of that nature.

((Which is a good thing for the rating of this story. I've been thinking about lowering it to K or K+. Let me know in a review what you think, in addition to whatever else you have to say. Does this disserve to be rated T?))

As much as he was in pain, it was only his pride that was seriously wounded. He got up quickly enough, moving around for another go. Clearly his last attempt had been less than successful. But what could he do that could help him do better? The answer was right there, literally behind his nose.

For every action, every observation, seemingly every though, his instinct would put in its two-sense, usually in the form of emotion or strong desire. Until now, he had been fleeing these sensations and desires like the Bubonic Plague whenever they did not completely overwhelm him. It seemed to Alvin that he was capable of much more than he had yet demonstrated physically. He could feel like he was retraining, holding back, never using all of what he could in his actions. He could do much better, far faster... but for a price. Alvin would have to stop converting human into pichu, stop completely blocking that portion of his mind that wasn't of pure human stock (although his definition of a mind of human stock was failing all the time), and use at least some of the "knowledge" that had moved in to replace his extensive supply of information of Pokemon and the world in which they lived. If he released just a little... just slightly... just enough to know how to properly move his limbs to jump the distance, surely he could prevent further leakage of the other hemisphere on his brain: of which had been quite extensive, hence the running down the hill, the fear, the childish manner of speech, and the presence of a vocabulary at all. Alvin was a smart adolescent ((SEE! I'm trying!)), or at least he had been, but he was not an expert of mental discipline. His attempt to separate his mind from its newly formed pichu facet had only isolated from a limited amount of his most useful skills. If there was something he was trying to keep away, chances are it was already there, and he was trying to ignore it.

So when he stopped resisting what he thought to be a great wall of massive instinct, stopped fighting, he was pleasantly surprised with only a slow trickle of new feelings rather than the soul-crushing wave he had expected. At the same time, however, it meant he had never really succeeded in the first place.

Alvin completed the jump with relatively newfound ease, pushing the picture (with Des's help) into a standing position just in front of the camera's filming aperture, leaving only a small space for Alvin to stand on two legs beside it. This he did, using one arm to support himself. The stance was much easier for him to maintain now, and he knew without thinking he could keep it up without the picture for support. He surveyed the phone for several seconds, searching for the key that would automatically dial his human friend. The English was slower coming to him than it had been with the blocks, but the complete word was already in place, so did not take quite as much time.

He paused for a moment more, rehearsing his message in his mind for a moment. It was a simple plan, but just as with his parents, Alvin preferred simple plans. One small forepaw found the key, and with a slight start (produced when Alvin's acute hearing wrapped around the rather loud beep which the dialing-computer sounded to indicate the number had been successfully located and connected), Alvin jumped back slightly, somehow managing to stay on two legs within the camera's frame.

"David Marlow speaking!" The voice had a slightly depressed note to it, but it was obvious the speaking was attempting to sound cheerful and relaxed. As this was a mobile phone, Alvin could not see David, but David could see Alvin. Or at least, he could see the pichu standing beside a picture of Alvin on the screen of his mobile. "Who are... what?" His voice was somewhat puzzled, to be sure. Without the presence of a mind to give him clues, David knew no more of Alvin's situation than anyone else who had immediately laid eyes on him. His face did turn to a pleasant smile, though Alvin could not see it. David liked babies. Their minds were the most innocent... no secrets... no filth. Then again, most Pokemon were like that, which was why he preferred them to humans. A fusion of the two could not be more perfect.

Alvin wasted no time in delivering his message, if it could be considered such. All he did was look directly into the camera at say. "Me, me, me... thing, thing, thing... me, me, me."

Des's face turned from one of mild confusion to amusement. "What are you doing?" He giggled, walking up beside Alvin and pushing the picture aside, so that they could both fill the frame. He had heard the voice, and knew whom Alvin was trying to call. It was only fitting for him to "help" it getting him here. "David!" He poked the screen once, wondering why it remained black. Weren't there supposed to be faces on both sides? "Alvin got turned into a pichu, so we want you to come over and play! Please! Bring Tom!" (Tom being David's current favorate pokemon: An eevee he hoped to someday evolve into an espeon)

David couldn't understand a thing either of them were saying, but easily identified both Des's voice and his appearance. What the pichu had said took a little more time to click with his brain: "Pi, pi, pi... chu, chu, chu... pi, pi, pi." It was not the words themselves that mattered, but the general sound they produced: It was a communication in the ancient telegraph language Morse code. SOS. "Dot, dot, dot... dash, dash, dash... dot, dot, dot." The simplest and easiest to remember thing in that language (actually, it was the only thing that either Alvin or David remembered, it being so easy to do so) Which meant... being with Des... the picture... Alvin had really got himself into trouble this time!

"I'll be right there!" He practically shouted into the phone, slamming the lid closed a bit too hard, scooping Tom (who had been running playfully around his feet as he walked slowly down the sidewalk that lead to his home) into his arms and turning sharply left, running as fast as his legs could carry him for the home of the friend who had just contacted him. At least, he thought it was his friend. He would find out soon enough either way...

Alvin stared at the "Call Disconnected" logo for a bit of time, smiling at Des. He almost laughed at what he had tried to do. Still, Alvin had deserved it for lying to him. Des had only been trying to help. "Thanks Des... you head him, David will be here right away... I have to talk to him, but I'm sure you can play with Tom while we do... until I'm ready..." That was assuming David could still read his thoughts... or his thoughts were still human enough to read. Could he read Pokemon? Alvin pondered this David was rather cryptic when asked about just how much of "The Gift" he had been born with, even with his better friends. The pichu was about to find out.

Des turned, jumping easily down onto the carpet and turning his eyes skyward, waiting for Alvin to do the same. The pichu turned slowly, dropping instinctively down to a more comfortable stance. That didn't stop the fear from coming, and come it did (thought almost exclusively from his human side. The pichu portion of his mind knew the jump was well within his limits) "Come on slowpoke!"

The pichu had almost wondered why such a word would exist... until he realized, with yet another "blush" that slowpoke were Pokemon. "I... can't! It's too far down!"

Des looked puzzled. "No it isn't! Just jump down! Don't think, just do!"

Surprisingly enough, this advice worked well for Alvin. Before a human being could've blinked, he was standing beside Des, smiling inwardly at his own success. "Ok... now what?"

Des thought for a moment, and gave precisely the response Alvin had anticipated: "Let's play!" A brief pause, then suddenly: "You're it!", accompanied with a brief but intense shock (although with animals of their species, such was little more painful than an extended tickling), and Des darted off into the house.

Alvin had started to protest, to argue, and even to criticize, but did not succeed in forcing out a single syllable. He watched Des's tail retreating around the corner into the living room, and could remain still no longer. "Not for long!" He called after Des, racing after him, completely lost to the game.

He remained in a state of shameless play with Des for about an hour, the primal joy it produced furthering to progressively strengthen to hold of the pichu part of his mind, digging him a still deeper hole. After halting his attempts at complete resistance to anything that was not human, Alvin was a great deal more vulnerable to instincts such as these, and would be until the day he either became a complete animal or returned to his human state.

It didn't really matter to Alvin anymore. Saying that he had a Human and a pichu mind would no longer be accurate. Besides, he was having fun! It was fun to play with Des!

He was just climbed onto the kitchen counter, preparing to yet another "attack" on the pikachu below when the doorbell rang, sparing Des from Alvin's weak electrical retort to several more shocks. Alvin stopped what he was doing instantly, releasing the energy he had pushed into his cheeks harmlessly into the table below him. The pounding stairs stopped even Des from making a move to attack, the two of them darting in their rodent-like ways to the corner of the hall where the living-room met the office, Alvin only slightly behind his larger counterpart. The two arrived just in time to see Molly pulling the door slowly ajar, her eyes swollen and a single tear on one of her cheeks. "H-hello?"

"Hello... Mrs. ... Tucker." The voice was clearly panting from lack of breath, as though its speaker had just ran a marathon. "I'm here... to see Alvin!"

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A/N: Wow... went on for a bit more than I expected... and for a time in the center there, I had writers' block something fierce. Expect to see a slew of corrections to that area when I proofread the next four chapters (yes, every five chapters I proofread all but the fifth chapter I am writing) I've got it so bad I can't ever rant. Pretty severe, eh? Review please! I would love to see as many as I got on the last chapter!


	6. Revelations Revised

Chapter 6: Revelations

A/N: 800 hits! Ok... no rant, and no technical reviews either. Thank you to the three that reviewed: Reported spelling errors, and most error in the first four chapters have been corrected, or at least, I hope so. Should great portions remain, please be so kind as to notify me. Review comments are going to have to wait till the end this time... I'm as eager to write this chapter as some of you are to read it. (Yeah, in case you haven't figured it out, I have almost as little knowledge of what will happen next as much of you... I have only a general picture of this story to a point not to far from here. Beyond that... well, the picture gets bigger every time I write. I'm hoping that picture will grow significantly following this writing)

REVIEW! And besides that, why not consider putting this story or your Story Alert list? Please do, to those who haven't. I would like all to know of updates as soon as they are posted. With me, there will be no regular schedule. I wouldn't want anyone to wait long than they have to. I'll need three more reviews (at least) to begin writing the next chapter. The more reviews, the faster I write the next chapter. Normal schedule is one week. Want it sooner? Review!

This chapter has been redone in the area of David and Alvin's conversation. If you want to know what is going one, rereading that would be wise.

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Molly raised one hand, about to inform the guest that Alvin was still missing, and to come back another time, but he was faster. Ignoring all protocol of politeness, the young man stepped through the doorway, ducking around Alvin's mother, eyes searching.

The youth was about five six, with a particularly unkempt appearance. A mop of black hair covered his head, falling to just below the level or his ears in no predictable way. The skin visible on his face was heavily tanned, though, suggesting he was not the average "Goth" or "Emo". One could almost sense his disgust at the mere presence of other humans, however, which was not out of place for those particular clichés. His clothing would've been quite fit for the former of these groups. Thick leather boots, slacks, tee shirt, and a trench coat that was never closed, were it not for the fact that all of his clothing (save for the boots) were a light shade of red rather than black. A very light shade. It wasn't too unusual a thing for trainers to do strange things, nor was it strange for someone with the gift to have strange preferences. Neither of these facts served to console his friends, however, who had to put up with that much more attack because of it. Such was, however, an acceptable loss in the eyes of any that befriended David. One more ally was worth a bit more scrutiny, even if their taste of clothing was a bit... odd. This wasn't to say he always wore pink, but his choices were rarely "Mainstream".

"Don't bother telling me... he isn't here." He stated in his annoying knowing voice. "You're too close... you can't lie..." Well she could, but David would know. Not to mention how fixed her thoughts were on the pichu. If the David had any doubt as to what had befallen his friend, Alvin's mother opening the door had alleviated the last of it.

With most, such acts, aside from being rude, were no less than criminal. But with such a well-known face to the house (and beside; could someone dressed from head to toe in light pink really be a threat?), and Molly's weakened state, David received no objection. Had Molly known what help he was about to be, she would've stepped out of his way and welcomed him!

"Alvin!" He shouted suddenly, stepping a few steps closer to the pair of yellow rodents trying to watch him from behind a corner. It would've worked, were it not for both had rather large ears, quite a giveaway in situations like this. Tom managed to dash inside just as Alvin's mother shut the door, narrowly avoiding getting his tail slammed in the process. The eevee thought nothing of it, however, nor did he pay mind unto any of the humans present in the room. Des's scent hand found his nose, and he found the source moments later. Though they might've been enemies in the wild, domestic animals tend to form non-traditional relationships. This was one of them.

Alvin had scarcely blinked: One moment he could feel Des's body heat radiating into his own side, the next... nothing. Tom had greeted Des and ran off with him into the living room with such speed that he had not been able to properly process the sensory input, leaving him alone with David, only a few feet away, and walking slowly closer with every passing moment.

The pichu seemed to back away slightly, fear instantly finding its way onto his face. _Snap out of it Alvin! You invited David here! If there is one person who can communicate properly with you, he's the one! Just stay in place long enough for him to get close... _And in some inexplicable way, he managed to resist the instinct to flee. It seemed weaker this time... as though his continued exposure to mankind was slowly eliminating his fear. Come to think of it: Des was never scared of people! _Is this what happens to a mouse continually around them?... Us! Around less... thumb-challenged... humans._

David was much closer now, pulling from his right hand the thin glove that covered it. All the skin but his face was constantly concealed, preventing accidental physical contact. David never made physical contact with any human without gloves... doing so would result in a much more detailed sharing of minds than he desired. With Pokemon, however, things were different. And required: He was not strong enough to connect at all with the mind of something less than human without physical contact. "Hold still, Alvin... just a moment more..."

The youth seemed to tower over Alvin, the single, bare hand he extended was the gaping maw of a predator, prime to rip him to pieces. Unlike with his mother, he felt no family bond, and Des was not there beside him to make the pichu feel safer. His mind was trying, struggling, fighting, to connect this gigantic beast with the David he had formerly known.

His mother watched with growing interest and excitement. She knew very little about David, other than he often accompanied Alvin on his Pokemon journeys, and he was a nearly unbeatable hand a poker.

Alvin's humanity won out in the end, or at least it did long enough to prevent him from running away. Perhaps it was just the pichu side was curious as well as scared. The scents coving every inch of this creature were so varied, yet so plain to him. He could read them as easily as any informative billboard, yet knew little of what each individual one might be. He had the senses, true, but not the experience to know what most of those scents might be.

What he did know was that this human had recently been around many more, had eaten a lightly tossed Caesar salad within the last time he changed clothes, and his parents owned a cat (though his human memories could've told him that last).

The pichu stood on its hind legs, extending its entire left "hand" to meet, perhaps block, David's large incoming appendage (or at least it seemed so). The human hand was so big... so strong looking. Alvin knew it could easily wrap around his entire body, and with the aid of the other, twist his form until he snapped in half. Fortunately, that was nothing at all close to what David had intended to do.

David knelt down before Alvin, extending his index finger and meeting Alvin's entire left paw just at its limit for stretching. Alvin's mind had just put its mind together to finally flee when they made contact and the world faded into darkness.

This darkness quickly disappeared, lighting in a manner of seconds to a level much brighter than had been present in Alvin's entryway. It was an outdoor light, far more white than yellow. The time of it had somehow changed.

Alvin's senses returned as slowly as they had when he had recovered from being bitten by the ekans (thought without the several days of delay as his health returned). As such, his sense of sight recovered first. On one side, damp earth, and on the other, the sun cutting easily through the high canopies of many different trees: He was back in the forest. What was he doing here? Had David somehow teleported him? No... that was impossible... his gifts were not near extensive enough for something as dramatic and energy dependent as teleportation.

He pushed himself to a sitting position, brushing the dirt from his right side with one hand and rising slowly to a standing position. The forest seemed so... different! Something was wrong! No... something was set right. His body had returned! He glanced down at his human form, and realized with a twinge of horror that such thoughts were too good to be true. Yes, he was human sided again, and yes, he was standing easily on two legs again, but humanity... that he was far from. His body appeared to be some freakish hybrid, possessing human proportions, but covered in the fur of the species he had spend the last three days as. His body was clothed with his usual set of apparel, save for his boots. Instead, his bare feet... no: paws. His feet were thin and bony, possessing short claws and dull, slightly elevated, pink pads. He could also feel the tail moving around slightly behind him, making use of some cleverly designed slit in his pants. Worst was his face, however, with a muzzle-like face, flat teeth, and still those gigantic ears, the only part of his perception which was back to normal was his observation of size. What had happened to him?

Fortunately, Alvin was not left to his own devices for long. It seemed only a few moments had passed before David made his appearance, seemingly appearing feet from Alvin with no visible means of transportation. It quite startled him, considering he was no used to the amount of advanced warning afforded by such sensitive hearing and smell.

Something about David also seemed out of place. His body wasn't quite there... almost transparent, having no substance. His clothes were the same ones he had been wearing moments before, but they were not affected by the slight rustlings of the wind that lifted Alvin's clothes and fur every few moments.

Without the intimidating size that David had possessed moments before, Alvin was not scared. Or at least, not frightened enough to make any sort of retreat.

"David? What happened to me? Where are we?" Alvin's voice, unfortunately, had not returned to his human proportions, It was just as high... just as feeble... it sounded no different than the voice he had possessed moments before, aside from being English. That was surprising enough in and of itself.

David's voice was, like his body, not entirely there. It was faint, drifting, distant, and with a slight delay. It seemed to come from all around rather than from his mouth, which did not move.

//Alvin! I'm so glad to see you're alright!//

The pichu-creature raised an eyebrow. "Do I look alright?!"

David moved slightly closer, looking Alvin thoroughly up and down. His face seemed to brighten as he did so, and his movements were becoming a bit more energetic. //Could be worse... when I heard what had happened to you, I expected you were lost...// David flipped a rough expression around them, at the small amount of forest they could see, and even to Alvin's body. //But it would seem I was mistaken... you look human, and this forest still exists from human perspective. Granted, I never suspected you quite so much an outdoorsmen...// he paused momentarily, smiling in spite of himself. //This place, your body, all of it... is a graphic representation of your mind.//

Alvin raised one hand close to his face, turning it around and holding it up to the light, as if inspecting it. Like the rest of his body, it was covered in fur. "I don't look very human..."

//You've been an animal for days! We can hardly expect your perception of the world not to have changed at all!// That happiness in his face fell away almost instantly. //The longer you remain what you are, the more the mind will move to match the body. Otherwise, you would still be completely human inside, or completely animal.//

His listener seemed both shocked and miserable at this revelation. He was turning into an animal /inside/? And if he stayed this way for too long... his mind would match the body? That was not a particularly appealing thought. He was spared from them now: But what would happen when he evolved? Would he desire to... Mate? The thought of doing so as an animal... or at all, for that matter! True, he had been looking at girls differently for several years now... but he had yet to get into any kind of relationships... and now it seemed, that would not be possible. Well, none who weren't yellow.

Not that such appealed to him at the moment. His body wanted to play with others of his species, but treated all individuals as one gender. If someone would provide for his physical needs, as well as play, they were nice. Otherwise, they weren't. He had not, however, been exposed to any others of his kind, save for Des, who really didn't count. The thought of a great number of their kind packed in one place... not just the elders, but pichu as well... it was strangely appealing despite his current situation.

He did not speak of any of this, though... not only did it not seem worth mentioning, but also of direct contradiction to his imagined reality where it had been only his body which was changed. Even if he not knew that was not true... "David... what could've done this to me... how?" He looked himself up and down again, but this time it was more to serve as a demonstration of a point. By now, he knew what he looked like. "How can I get back?"

//I don't know:// He blushed slightly at this. It was these types of things he was supposed to know... almost required to know. And this time, he had little idea. //You tell me. What did this? When? Surely you know more than I...//

Alvin sat down out of instinct, clutching his knees into his chest with both arms: A plainly uneasy stance. "I don't really know... I was out with Des, on the way to school. We walked through the forest, but we found this... thing." He paused for a moment, drawing a rough sketch of the formation with the claw of one finger before him. "Two circles of rocks, with what I thought was a thunderstone in the center... I wanted one, should Des ever decide to evolve... Des told me to leave, even shocked me, and I ignored him. When I touched it..." Alvin stood up again, looking at himself once more. "You can see the results."

David merely nodded at this, a look of mild realization and simultaneous confusion on his face. Had he heard of anything like this happening? No... not really... there were several mythical references to ancient totems and such that could be used to exact a verity of physical effects on Pokemon... but none of them had ever been found, let alone proven. Mere echoes of the stories of humans in times long past. //I don't know how this happened, but if we are to turn you back, I need to see the site of your transformation. Perhaps something could be found there to explain why this would happen, and possibly how to reverse its effects.// He glanced away, unwilling to admit their science was not yet advanced enough to deal with problems such as this. It was rumored that team rocket might be mixing human and Pokemon, somewhere, but other than that... that only worked on humans, anyway, when it worked at all. David knew as much as he wished to on that subject.. which was next to nothing. //If not, we will have to concentrate on keeping you as human as possible until we can solve this. I have ideas.//

"And those are..." Alvin began, his voice shaky and unsure. He did not have any gifts, but he didn't need any to tell him he wasn't going to like them.

//Cryogenic storage... digital storage... even a pokeball might help. In the first, you would come out exactly as the day you entered-//

The anger in Alvin's voice was rising. "Are you kidding? Cryogenic storage?" He wasn't up-to-date with the latest news in everything, but he knew enough to know that such was not a perfect science, to say the least. As a matter of fact, to his knowledge, there were no cases where a mammal had been successfully revived from storage. Thinking like this infantile animal was bad, yes, but not worse than a dark death in the cold of a liquid-nitrogen cooling cell. As to the other two... now that he was a Pokemon, either would be equally possible... but getting into a pokeball, just now, seemed an appalling aspect to say the least.

Somehow, without knowing how he knew it, Alvin was _sure_ that entering a Pokeball would spell his doom. And to do either of those last options would require that. Surely nothing could wait in those infernal creations but never-ending darkness...

"No, no, and no. I would rather be an animal than frozen solid, considering there isn't even a way to wake me up yet." The pichu's ears were perfectly straight, and his tail no longer moved. It was clear without empathy he was worried greatly for his well being.

//Far enough? What about the other two?//

"I don't want to go in a Pokeball for any extended amount of time, and both of those would require that." He looked away, blushing with a good amount of sparking to his cheeks. The fact that he was contemplating a pokeball at all as a possible solution spoke of just how desperate this situation was. "Perhaps for a few moments... short trips... Des was never hurt by them, so I should be allright."

He remained silent for some time, looking at David to provide with other ideas. He always had other ideas. None came. //If you're not willing... I don't know. Classical music might help out here, as well as, perhaps, reading or chess...// His friend was in it deep, no matter what intellectual activities he participated in. And that meant he would have to get Alvin out of it. He always did when Des wasn't around to help. With a situation this serious, it would take the both of them. Perhaps with time, and a few short rides inside one, Alvin might be a bit more willing to see reason. Then again, it might be that fate would favor them and the solution would be waiting at the site Alvin had been changed in the first place. Assuming they could even find it...

But if he was not willing to preserve his mind through stasis, a few intellectual activities would have to do. David could only hope, and he was not alone in doing so, that there was some way to reverse this hidden at the sight where it had happened in the first place.

//I'll try to come back tomorrow. We can go looking for the place that did this to you then, alright?//

Alvin nodded, then glanced around for a moment, at the forest and the sun high above. Though he couldn't even guess at how long their conversation had gone-on, the sun had not moved. Not an inch. "How long can we keep talking?"

//Not long now... as a matter of fact...// Alvin hadn't noticed it, had been far to content in observing his own body and anger to notice it, but David seemed to be fading, becoming more and more transparent by the second. His voice too seemed to be fading, though it was in volume rather than visual clarity. //Anything you want me to tell your parents for you?//

When they had began, this had been the near complete focus of Alvin's mind, but shortly after their conversation began... he had all but forgotten about it. He could give them a message! He would have to think quickly... who knew how long David would remain...

"Tell them..." he spluttered for a moment, not thinking properly. Anger had been replaced with excitement so fast, and in such amounts that he could not properly think. "Tell them I'm sorry... for doing this to them, and that... I don't want Melissa to know... she's been looking at me... you know..." He blushed again, though this time with minimal sparking, and no forced discharges of electricity. He now knew just what the consequences of this were like, and he wasn't keen on repeating them.

//Yeah... I understand. Anything else?// His voice was still fainter this time, so much so that Alvin could scarcely hear it.

"Tell them not to worry about me... that I'll be fine. Tell them to move the blocks up to my room, and not to shut the door like usual... I'm not sure if I can open it..."

David's body faded into nothing just as Alvin reached the "I'm" in his final statement, disintegrating into a golden mist that sat upon the ground for a scant few moments before being absorbed by the ground.

Alvin sat there alone for several seconds, again studying his hand, as well as privately wondering just what his mother had thought, seeing the two of them motionless in the position their bodies had been in when they left, as well as just how sore he would be from all that bipedal motion (or rather, lack thereof), and had just lifted a single rock from the ground and began to toss it up and down before the world again faded into obscurity.

But just as before, light quickly returned, as well as Alvin's other senses. His body quickly rocked back onto four legs, looking up at David with an expression completely devoid of fear. The scents of the other Pokemon nearby had returned... of Des and Tom jumping around on the couch and tables in the living room. Things had changed since he had made contact with David (who was, at present, returning his glove to its proper place). His mother was standing only feet from him, looking down at what would've been a pair of teenagers with a quizzical expression.

"What did you... just do? For a few moments there, it was like... you to were... in a trance!"

A few moments? To Alvin, it had seemed much longer... at least a quarter of an hour. _Impossible! We talking for far longer!_

David glanced once down at Alvin before speaking, first to the mouse, and then to Alvin's mother. "It isn't impossible..." He whispered, turning his eyes immediately up, to Alvin's mother. "I was talking to Alvin. I wanted to show him that despite what he might think, he is still mostly human inside. He wanted me to tell you..." He paused for a moment, thinking back. "He's sorry for making you deal with this, and he doesn't want Melissa to know who he is. He also said... Not to worry about him, and to... not shut his door..." His voice faltered, becoming more unsure as he neared the end of this statement These last details seemed to have faded from his mind, and at present, Alvin did not care.

"Tom!" David yelled suddenly, turning on his heels and walking slowly towards the door. Alvin would've shown him out, but the combination of all the information David had just provided, as well as his one-foot height, prevented him from trying. "I'll try and come back tomorrow after-school... It's imperative Alvin isn't let outside until then!"

With a rush of brown fur beside Alvin and the slamming of a door, David was gone.

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A/N: So... that one felt a bit on the stranger side when it came to writing... I'm sorry if things don't seem to make sense just yet. I'm trying to fit the story together, but if I want to keep updating as I do... I'm going to have to keep dishing out information in these small amounts. Remember, I'm going to need at least three more reviews to get started on the next chapter.

As much as I would like to, I can no longer thank every writer of every review. I will, however, do my best to answer questions, still, or respond to comments I find of particular attack or praise. Please don't feel offended if you don't see anything from me in here... I'll try to respond to reviews from this point on with replies rather than posting them here. (Assuming a reply is even necessary) I may, though, just not with everything. So to make a long story short: Review, and alert if you would like to not have to wait for the next one... I don't want people to have to wait. Thank you.

It is also important to note that, every five chapters, I go back and cleanse the last four. In the four before those four, I will be removing these rants and responses, so read them while you can.

Serpent Magick: Thank you for your feelings, not to mention the help with those questions I had. I'm sure there will be many more. In all honesty, I hope the "flame" never comes my way. All of us do.

Foxyjosh: I'm cutting down on the rants with every chapter... and while two does fit the bill for a prime number, people often forget it. Alvin did not use it for that very reason: Even numbers are often mistaken for not being prime. He didn't want to risk it would spoil the pattern and prevent his parents from understanding.

Reeds89: Yes, I did notice those spelling problems... too late. I'll fix 'em after the next four more chapters... I see you've already put the story on your alert list... smart. That's what you other people need to do... so you can get an email whenever a new chapter comes out! Thanks again for all your reviews and help...

That's all! If you're lucky, I may update one last time this week. Goodnight.


	7. Brief Respite

Chapter 7: Brief Respite

A/N: Guess what: No more rants! That's right. From now on, all rants and other relevant production information will be posted on the Fragmented Disillusionment Production Blog, which can be located here: http://alvinpichu. b l o g s p o t (dot) C0M If you care for these things, please bookmark it. The site will provide up-to-date information on the production of this and any other future works. My responses to reviews, previews of future chapters, and all similar content can be found there. This will be the only announcement.

I lied. I need to tell you all that I re-did a great deal of the last chapter, mostly in the parts where David and Alvin are talking. Please take a look back before reading on... it won't make sense otherwise!

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The next few hours were as a blur to Alvin, and were so until his sister returned home. True to their word, his parents said nothing of what they had learned, and little of what had happened to the downstairs, only that she was to clean it up. It didn't take her long to figure out that Des and Alvin had made the mess, though Molly had already disrupted all of the patterns Alvin had produced beyond recognition. It didn't take a genius to see the small, clawed paw prints, outlined by the tiny remnants of flour Rick had failed to notice.

The pair of rodents were just passing through the kitchen on yet another game of "Tag", zapping each other with weak bolts of electricity (without knowing the game had been made to increase the strength of their bodies, or the accuracy of their elemental attacks). They were moving with such speed that Melissa would not have been able to make a move to stop them, were it not for Alvin stopping on his own. True, their current shocks were so weak that he felt little pain, at least not from each one on an individual basis. But enough time playing the game, and that pain began to build. It did not reach any pitch to cause him to stop until he was but feet from his older sister.

Though Melissa was only eighteen months older than Alvin, she now loomed over him like a mythical giant, towering a good five and a half times his height, and at least thirty times his weight. For the first time since Alvin had come to this state, he sat back in that human-like pose he seemed to be fond of when resting, watching from the floor as she washed each potato, returning each to the pantry after a through rinse. The look on her face was about as sour as the single lemon sitting alone in the counter's bowl of fruit. Her face softened slightly when she saw Alvin. Though he hated being as he was most of the time, looking a pichu did have its advantages, particularly with younger females, who were more sensitive to fuzzy, cute, things.

"You!" She teased, in that voice people often use when talking to their pets: High, drawn out, and slow. "At least you're getting along with Des! Like, next time, try not to like, do it on the kitchen floor, alright?"

Alvin smiled, all modesty forgotten. His parents had not informed her of his fate, and though it was slightly angering that she did not seem to care about him, at least she was treating him a pichu properly. Come to think of it, aside from talking all slow, this was the most respect she had ever shown to him (which was next to nothing). "Sure, whatever you say boss... yeah right. If I hadn't, I might already be up for adoption by now..." Though his tone (to his own ear) was of mockery, she heard no more than the insane babble of another Pokemon. For the first time, he found it amusing.

What did not amuse him, or at least, it wouldn't had he noticed, was that he had, for the first time, constructed an entire phrase without internal delay of struggle for words.

"Thanks..." She paused for a moment, ruffling the fur on Alvin's head with one sopping-wet hand.

A gesture he would've held in distain only a few days before, now actually felt good. The afternoon sun had warmed the downstairs considerably; and the cool water served to help lower his temperature. If only he had still had sweat glands.

"Hmm... I don't know what to call you! Mom says we're going to let Des keep you until Alvin comes back... maybe she'll let me name you!" She released her hand, and quickly set upon her task, cleaning the kitchen with newfound enthusiasm. _If I finish soon enough, they'll HAVE to let me name him! _For the attention she was now giving Des, it was as thought he had faded completely from existence.

Name _him_? Alvin didn't like the sound of that. He wasn't some lesser creature to be named, and groomed, and fed! His thoughts were of future! He possessed foresight, and ambition! "NO!" He protested, though she was now completely ignoring him. "I like Alvin just fine! Why don't you get your own pichu, and name her?" As soon as the words were out of his mouth he wanted them back... at least until he remembered she could not understand him. Then it all became more amusing.

And he had to admit; another name would have its advantages. It would help provide security for him and the rest of his family should be out in public. There weren't many pichu named Alvin, people might get suspicious... perhaps they wouldn't think him a transformed human, but after enough time, they might watch him for long enough to know he was smarter than other pichu, and take hum away for study.

Even if he viewed the costs to outweigh the benefits, there was little of anything he could do about it: Until David returned the next day, he would be as helpless to communicate with the humans as goldfish with sharks.

It was submersed in this thought, forgetting about what Des might've gone off to do when he saw Alvin sitting before Melissa rather than running after him, forgetting about the cleaning itself, and continuing to forget about his own modesty, Alvin failed to notice much of anything at all until his sister returned, still smiling from upstairs, the kitchen clean once again.

"Guess what?!"

"What?" He repeated dully, fully away she could not understand him.

"They said yes!" She exclaimed gleefully, scooping up Alvin roughly from the floor with one hand and settling him onto her left shoulder before he could protest.

It seemed so high, and her clothing so unsteady! He had not the area for all four paws, as he would've liked, so was forced to stand, or try to, on only his lower legs. Claws and the extra balance his tail offered him made the task possible to at least some degree, so that though his cheeks began sparking with the slight anger of being manhandled, he otherwise remained still. That wasn't to say he was silent, however. "Watch it! Do you know what it feels like to be picked up like that?"

Her face turned slightly to meet him, revealing the all-too-unpleasant fact that her head was larger than his entire body. Her smile seemed to widen. "And you've already given me an idea for your name! Do you know what I am going to call you?"

"No! And I don't care to!"

She blinked stupidly, naturally, not understanding a word. "Good! I think I'll call you 'Sparks'!"

Sparks? Well... it wasn't much, but it was a world better than he had been expecting. When he thought about it, being called Alvin just didn't make sense any more... at least not to his body. For around this house at least, that name would have to do. If he decided it was too much to bear: He would ask David to inform his parents the next day. "Sparks?" He paused. At least there was a word for this new name in this new language. It made sense, though. An electric Pokemon would have words for electric things. "Fine... I guess..."

Not that saying anything made any difference. Unlike with his parents, who could somehow guess what he was saying even though they were in no more privilege to understand than any other human, Melissa was almost always completely wrong. Then again, that might just because he was giving her such a hard time. With his parents, he had always been saying the logical thing to say. It also had to be considered that they had been talking to him like a human being. A human with a debilitating disease, perhaps, but a human nonetheless.

Melissa shortly disproved this theory, however, reading his tone and words with complete exactness, at least now. "Really? Good!" She played with his fur for some time, causing him to light up a bit more around the cheeks. The sensation wasn't unpleasant, but knowing who she was made it... awkward. With his parents, it was tolerable. With her, it was... strange, to say the very least.

"Stop it!" He exclaimed, pushing away weakly with both of his stubby arms. She ignored him, hardly even realizing he was putting up any resistance. After a brief delay, he got up the guts to try and climb down on his own... anything was better than staying up there. Sure, his body wanted attention, but there was a limit to how much he could take from humans. This, Melissa did notice, which lead to her helping Alvin to the floor, possibly saving him from quite a fall in the process.

The instant his feet found sure footing, he was off, speeding out the kitchen and up the stairs before Melissa could even try to touch him again. As he had instructed, the door was ajar, and he strode in without difficulty, a slight smile on his face. Despite what he had just fled, it seemed he no longer held a grudge for long.

Much to his surprise, Des was already there, digging for something beneath the bed.

"What're you looking for?" He asked as soon as he entered, pushing the door slightly closed with great difficulty, unable to push it enough to force the locking mechanism to click. It felt like pushing one of those multi-ton steel security doors.

Des emerged moments later, a bundle of small belongings in his mouth, which he took over to Alvin and spat out for his inspection. It was one of those little scarf-and-goggles sets, the same one he himself had once worn a few years ago. This was no ordinary set of clothes, either. (If one could call it that, it hardly covered anything but a big of his back and face) The strap of the goggles had an everstone incorporated into the design, meaning that whoever wore it could decide weather they wished to evolve, should that time come.

Alvin wasn't sure weather it was the pichu side or the human one that wished to wear the clothes, but there was little objection from either. Not only did these clothes possess the advantage of the everstone, but wearing anything, no matter how small, would make him feel that much more human, even if nothing was covered that should be.

"Can you help me put them on?"

Des didn't answer, at least not with words. Taking Alvin roughly with one paw, he used the other to place first the goggles, just above Alvin's eyes, then tie the neckerchief just around his neck, so that a blue triangle emblazoned with the stereotypical "pokeball symbol" hung behind him. The pichu watched with amazement at this act, surprised that Des had the proper skill to place the clothes in the right place, as well as the dexterity of paw to properly settle them.

The clothes felt... strange, but not unpleasant. True, they were covering him no better than a properly sized pair of socks might, but wearing them still seemed... human. And just now, doing anything to feel human appealed to him. At least he wasn't walking around naked anymore. "Thanks Des... I couldn't do it without you!"

The pikachu paused, setting back onto the floor from his two-legged stance and moving over to the door. "You always helped me! Now it's my turn to help you!" He smiled; completely unaware he had just provided his friend with the tool that would prevent him from evolving without willing effort. "Now come on!" He turned for the door, pausing only long enough to say "I smell food!" Before darting off down the hall, turning sharply, and leaping from stair to stair torwards the bottom floor.

Alvin paused, unsure as to weather he should follow. This was his first time upstairs... first time to see his room. His scent was everywhere... well, not really his scent. A human scent, which seemed at least friendly, but nothing close to his own. Not anymore. He spun around slowly, slightly cumbered by a bipedal stance that, at this moment, he refused to relinquish. The full-body mirror attached to the sliding closet door seemed to shimmer in the fading afternoon light, reflecting dancing rainbows that seemed to move as he walked. (what he did not know was that the light for these particular displays was being reflected to the mirror, to the clear goggles, and back again)

This was the first good look of himself he was yet to see, and it was just as he expected. A little under a foot, with a thin frame and pale yellow fur. He liked the way the clothes added a slight blue tint to his body, but was completely confident they would've looked much better seen from third person rather than first.

By the time he had navigated down the stairs (a task which proved far more difficult than climbing up, taking at least twice as much time to complete), his parents and sister were already sitting around the table, digging into a full rack of barbecue ribs with the vivacity accumulated from a day of hard work and stress... for all of them.

Alvin darted instinctively for his empty chair, smiling briefly at the sight of one of his favorite foods. Such cooked meats were not exactly commonplace to this new body, so he was spared from the instinct... at least until the smells reached his brain. And this smell spoke of death, of pain, of suffering! Some poor creature's life had been ended to make this meal.

As a human being, he had little sympathy for these creatures, mass produced on large farms, doomed from birth to be nothing more than a meal for smaller, but more powerful creatures. Now that he was on the other end of the food chain, however, and sensitive to the constant fear and oppression that was knowing your life would be easy to end by most, if not all other creatures, and few would have remorse in doing so. Unlike the pokemon that had made this meal, humans were one of the few that were his allies rather than enemies.

"Eww!" He scrambled out from under the table (amidst momentarily stares from his parents), backing away from the table and over to Des's little corner of toys in the same way a man might back away from a cannibal feast to which he was invited.

Des sensed his fear, and was at his side before he even reached the area. "Meat... isn't it gross? So much for sneaking a good meal..."

"Yes!" Alvin answered in a hushed agreement, instinctively lowering his voice to prevent the humans from hearing (though it made little difference, considering none of them could understand him). "I can't believe I used to eat like that..." Indeed, his parents and sister ripping the meat off bleached bones with their teeth wasn't exactly the most prime example of modern dining etiquette: it was sloppy even by pichu standards. Not to mention the amplified sounds of ripping flesh, as well as the ever-present smell. "It's so... gross!" He had wanted to say "barbaric", but no such word existed in this language. He shouldn't have been surprised: In a world of animals, all would be barbarians. Not to mention the word had its roots in the Greek word "barbaros", a name for those without Greek as their first language. With no Greece, the word meant nothing.

"It's what humans eat..." Des said, semi-defensively. It was a bit ironic: Des shared such a deep bond with Alvin (one which had become much more two-way over his waking hours of the last few days) that he defended much of the human's former habits from... a modified version of that same trainer. "Just like we eat berries, fruits, and some leaves where there is nothing else... can we blame them for following instinct?"

Alvin blinked several times, the irony of what was happening not lost to him. Nor was it so that Des had understood a concept he had previously thought far beyond the capacity of his pikachu. This day seemed to have a never-ending supply of surprises. "No... I guess you're right. Still, it doesn't smell very nice." Though such a scent would've been ambrosia to him only a few days prior, it was now one of the foulest odors he could imagine.

"We could... go back to your dwelling-place... or go outside until they are finished!" Des suggested helpfully, glancing once up to one of the large wall-windows lining every outdoor-facing surface. It was twilight now, the dusk just following the sunset, only moments before all light fades. In the wild, this would be near to the time for rest and sleep, to take shelter from the trials and tribulations of the world beyond. But in a man-made environment with few predators and artificial lights, they could remain awake and safe in the fenced backyard area for a near indefinite amount of time.

They had just left his room, but somehow the prospect of leaving for the outdoors seemed appealing to him. He hadn't really got a proper look at his house; given the bite he had sustained, and was interested in properly examine its new appearance. Aside from that, well... he wanted to run.

"Outside it is! To the..." He paused, searching for the proper word to use in place of "backyard". It took more than one. "Place which is connected to the nest by a hanging black door, and... Protected with high walls of shining metal."

Des nodded only once, disappearing out the dog-door without so much as a sound. Alvin followed as close behind as his shorter and smaller limbs allowed, pushing through the heavy, magnetically sealed rubber with the side of his face. After only the briefest smell of burning (left over in the black substance from the vulcanization process), he was outside.

As he had expected, the outdoors were a pleasant relief from the tortuous scents of his own home. Aside from the brief but painful walk across the concrete of the patio, all of his senses were a joy at his surroundings. The scents citrus tree in the corner of his yard, its not-quite-ripe fruit hanging tantalizingly out of his reach, the cool sensation of damp earth, or the cool breeze blowing slowly through his fur. The air was so crisp, so clean. So different from the think and oppressive chemicals that filled the air inside, that his human body had failed even to notice. Bug pokemon sang their songs of dawning night from all around him, hiding just beyond the fence. The clicks, vibrations, and other sounds he would've previously dismissed as background noise made much sense to him now... like whalesong. No words, exactly, but strong feelings, drifting with the cool breeze along the well groomed and conditioned backyards of this small paradise for humankind, situated in the center of a rather untamed wild. Until now, Alvin had failed to realize just how far from human civilization they really were.

"It's so... pretty..." Alvin whispered, following closely behind Des as he traveled a path through the bushes and other shrubbery lining the fence he obviously knew well.

Des said nothing until they had reached a clear spot in the bushes. The pikachu turned swiftly and sat down, smiling over at Alvin, who shortly did the same. "I know... not as nice as the forest, but safer. I like it here a lot."

This Alvin knew without Des actually saying anything: His scent had many layers here. Based on what this new nose was telling him, Des came here a good several times a day. It was an ideal spot: The orange tree above them would provide shade during the hotter ours of the day, and the opening of the fence just before them provided them with ventilation and a look a the forest and trail through it that the two had traversed a few days prior. In about twenty minuets, the soft earth would also serve as a perfect place to lay silent, and look up at the stars.

"I can see why..." He paused for a moment, searching for the right words. He would've liked it here even human, though the effect would be quite a bit less intense. With such little height, waxy-looking bushes could provide complete cover separating this place and the house. As a human being, only on his belly would he have the same view, and for that there was no room.

For the shortest, briefest, possible moment, he did not regret what had happened to him. The serenity and peace was beyond anything he had experienced in his human state. But then he remembered all of the turmoil and difficulty waiting only thirty or so yards away in the house beyond. It was cut off from view, but his mind did not require it to be within visual range for him to get proper focus, an advantage he did not share with most other pichu.

If this had been some special ability, or something limited in duration, he would've been happy for it. But as nice as the immediate situation seemed, the difficulty and suffering to him was only feet away, looming like a specter which would take him back the second he left this small secluded corner of the backyard. "How long can we stay out here?"

It took Des only moments to answer. "Without solid cover or a burrow, we shouldn't fall asleep out here, just in case... but other than that, we're safe!"

This brought another smile from Alvin: He trusted Des unconditionally in matters of his own safety, so if Des said it was safe out here, he would feel confident in coming out here should he desire a brief relief from the often-disgusting scents of the indoors. "Can we eat anything out here?" His hunger was growing, and his parents had not as-yet refilled the food bowl.

"The oranges are too young... but there are a few other things we can eat..." He stood up, motioning for Alvin to do the same. He lead the pichu throughout the yard, returning only when he had shown him all that was edible around them.

When they did finally make it back to that little clearing of bushes somewhere near the fence, Alvin was quite a bit fuller, and darkness had fully come. Solar-charged lamps lining the area that separated the grass from the earth in which the other plants were grown in burst into life as soon as the last of the sun's rays had faded, providing adequate lighting for them to continue their activities.

Even with those lights, there were still many stars in the sky, far more than Alvin had ever seen at once. Aside from the automatic lights, his house was dark, allowing for a momentary glimpse of the universe in something closer to its full state. Alvin lay on his back beside Des, leaning against the trunk of the tree and looking up. The two talked for some time, watching the moon slowly rise as they did so. It was before the moon had reached its peak that all conversation stopped, and they simply observed in silence. Shortly after, Alvin's breathing became slightly slower and less labored, and his eyes closed.

Des waited a time to be sure his friend and former trainer had indeed been claimed by the fatigues of the day, before he stood, lifted his former trainer by the scruff of the neck, and carried him inside.

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No more rants! If you would like to keep up with them, though, feel free to visit/bookmark http://alvinpichu. b l o g s p o t (dot) C0M But make sure you review before you do!


	8. Inspired Failure

Chapter 8: Inspired Failure

No more rants... not on this page. To see them, and for a live status report on future updates, visit the homepage link on my profile. I would like to say, however... 1000 hits! Ok... time for the story.

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Alvin pawed eagerly at the door, moving away to one side only after his mother came walking up and opened it for David.

The tiny mouse Pokemon had slept in late... very late. Which meant he was indeed getting something else out of this: He didn't have to go to school.

Sure, he was all for learning more, and all that, but if it wasn't relevant to his quest to become a badge-winning Pokemon trainer, and he couldn't learn it on-the-go, he didn't care to waste day after day in a quest to learn it. Like many other teenagers, Alvin's judgment was rarely insightful.

But at least sleeping late had limited the number of hours he had been required to sit, eager with anticipation, at David's return. He could hardly contain himself as the youth stepped inside, exchanged a few words with his mother, and turned to him. He had expected a look of equal excitement: Of happiness rivaling his own. He had been disappointed.

David's face was tired, his hair disheveled, his clothing showing much more dirt and grime then would be expected after only a single day at school. (At least he wasn't still wearing pink: This time it was a plain brown, but of a similar style to what he had worn the previous day) "What a day..." He muttered under his breath, not really intending for anyone to hear. Alvin's mom did not possess the proper hearing, but Alvin did.

"Why?" Alvin asked, stepping out of his mother's way as she moved quickly upstairs, obviously busy cleaning. He was amazed that even after what had happened, she still had the time and will to clean the house.

David had not understood his words, true, but because of their proximity, was able to read the thoughts that preceded them.

"Fitness tests..." He answered without much delay, wiping the sweat from his brow with the back of one hand "They had us running for an hour, not to mention fifty push-ups. I'll be glad, next year, when I don't have to..." He stopped speaking abruptly, bushing. Alvin was looking away, both guilty and upset. He should've been there... deserved to be there. "But it doesn't matter... are you ready to go?" He was. "I see you've... um... found some clothes?" He smiled weakly, stifling a laugh with the back of one hand.

Alvin hadn't really thought about it: But the clothes he was wearing really weren't something any human male would wear... but animals had no such intolerances. Were it not for his background, he would hardly have noticed even if the fabric was bright pink. He leaned back, pulling onto to legs so as to better look into David's as best as he could. "Yes!" He paused momentarily, thinking for the right words. "I'm not wearing them for no reason! There is an everstone in the goggles!"

David's expression and appearance seemed to be getting better by the moment. Perhaps it was his emphatic nature, picking up Alvin's unusually cheery mood. Perhaps he was fond of the wallpaper. Or perhaps he was simply so amused by a sudden and vivid image of Alvin wearing the goggles and neckerchief as a human being that it was temporarily overlapping the painful fitness testing memory. "Then why wear the neckerchief?"

The question was a fair one, and something Alvin was yet to consider. In truth, it felt like an incomplete consume. But he couldn't say that and keep his dignity. If his voice or thoughts didn't give away the fact that his next words were a lie, his sparking cheeks did. "I... get cold... without it." Quite possibly his lamest excuse to date.

David did not press the subject. His friend had been through enough already. He waited for a short amount of time, just long enough so that his next reply was not impolitely close to Alvin's last words. "Ready to go? I've been looking forward to this all day!"

Alvin looked away, sparking again. These days he really couldn't not be ready; there were no bags to pack, no special clothes to put on... no relatives to contact with information on his trip should he be gone for too long. "Yes..."

David noticed this, and his expression turned to a slight frown. He wasn't oblivious to Alvin's suffering. "I brought a pokeball... but that will only work on the trip back, considering you're the only one who knows where we're going. If all goes well, a pokeball won't work on the way back... I've got Tom with me, though." He pulled back the coat around his middle for a second, pointing to the pokeball attached to his belt. "And if you want, we could take Des."

Alvin thought about this for a moment, but decided to say no. It was Des's attack that had did this to him in the first place...but besides that, Alvin felt guilty at exacting so much help from him over the last few days, help he could never return. Des deserved a break from him, at least for a few hours. If all went well, he would return on two legs the whole way, and be able to return his pikachu's kindness with great big bags of those treats his mother had told him never to use again.

He was just opening his mouth to say this when David replied, realizing too late that he was yet to tell Alvin how it was that he understood him, and that this might be slightly unnerving. It would've been, had Alvin not already have some small idea of his friend's abilities. "Ok then! We don't really need him, anyway... I've never encountered any really dangerous Pokemon in those woods, and neither have you... as long as I'm around, I doubt you will be attacked by the cubone again... my size should scare it enough to avoid us." Not only had David replied to Alvin's statement, he had also answered a question that had been floating on the edge of his mind, one he was not quite ready to put into words. "If you like, you can ride on my shoulder... I imagine those rocks and things the trail is made of aren't pleasing of texture to bare paws..."

He was right about that. Alvin nodded slowly, unsure how David was going to go about it. David bent down, made a claw-like shape with his left hand, pushed it just under Alvin's arms and lifted him up onto his own shoulder, acting with such force and speed that Alvin was standing shakily, gripping David's jacket as he walked up the trail into the forest, boot-laden feet crunching with each step.

"Which way?" David remained silent until he reached the end of the gravel path, but had to ask eventually. Walking straight in silence would only get them so far.

It took only Alvin only moments to find his bearings and answer. At least he had a good memory for directions. "This way..." He said timidly, pointing with his only free limb. All others were rather occupied, keeping his footing for him.

The forest looked so wrong from human height, so strange as David's steps caused him to bump slightly up and down. The scents drifting into his nose at last made sense, however... they told him he was home. At the same time, however, he was painfully aware of the scent-markings left by larger and more powerful creatures, criss-crossing on every stretch of open ground.

Aside from momentary inquiries of direction, the two remained silent for a good portion of the trip, which seemed to take a great deal less time than Alvin's and Des's original trek home. With David's large and loud body protecting him, Alvin was rarely frightened by the momentary sightings of pokemon that frequented their trip. And those animals, apparently, were scared enough of David to avoid them, despite what might've been an easy meal riding atop him.

David stopped walking when he first saw the hedge, taking only one look at the eerie clouds of fog before picking up Alvin and setting him down on the ground in front of him. As before, Alvin's cheeks lit up at being handled so easily by someone who was usually his match in physical prowess.

"Ok Alvin: Lead the way. Beats me why you would've gone in there in the first place..."

The pichu remained in place only long enough to shoot an annoyed look up at David before scampering ahead into the mist, vanishing from sight almost before David could walk weakly in pursuit. In normal circumstances, he would've been close to a match for the electrical rodent, but after walking for at least two hours, as well as the fitness tests, he was thoroughly "ran out". "Not so fast!" He called, almost losing his way in the mist and colliding with the hedge.

This whole place made no sense: It was far too late into the day for such fog to linger. Not to mention the perfectly square, precisely groomed hedge rows. It was as if this was some man-made formation being assiduously maintained by scores of crew. There were, however, no footprints to speak of, only Alvin's lone pair of paw prints fading off into the white void. This also made no sense: It had been only a few days, and there had been no rain! Alvin's shoe-prints from before should still be here! He would mention it to Alvin as soon as this fog cleared.

Alvin stopped so close to the edge of the fog that David nearly tread on him. He could feel it, now, feel that apprehension, that sense that something bad was just inches away on the horizon, that Des had felt a few days prior. Not to mention the oddly curved rocks poked up from the earth at a height as least equal to his own, casting elongated shadows in the afternoon sun.

David remained silent and still for some time, observing the shapes and colors carefully. He did not casually pass them by as Alvin had, but looked as closely as his human senses would allow. "Curious..." He muttered, walking slowly up to the closest stone and kneeling beside it for a close inspection (though he was careful to avoid making physical contact with it). He did not miss the faint carvings in its surface, almost completely faded with time. It was a series of what looked like nonsensical scratches and lines, starting large at the bottom, and wrapping around the rock, becoming smaller and smaller until they reached illegible size at the top.

David muttered something to himself, scratching the back of his head. This was quite a riddle indeed...

Alvin spied the recognition in David's eyes, so was quick to interrupt his solemn but brief moment of intensive study. "What is it? Did you find anything?" he asked, dashing over to the stone, and standing (on four legs) just beside it, directly in David's line of sight. His voice was practically shouting with excitement, though his words were utterly unnecessary. It wasn't as if David could understand them.

"Yes!" He exclaimed, pushing Alvin away with one rough hand and looking back to the stone.

"Well... what does it say?" Now that he was so close to it, even Alvin's cursory glance could not miss the carvings in its surface. Unfortunately, he was no better qualified or able to read it than Des was to read Shakespeare.

David refused to answer until he was ready, so remained silent for some time. Alvin grew more impatient by the moment, but the perspective of returning humanity managed to silence him long enough for David to ascertain the writing on that particular stone.

"It's Phi..." David said weakly, standing up and raising one hand to the sky, as though he had just made some divine insight.

Alvin was none-the-wiser. "And that is..." He said, though his voice was more excited than annoyed.

"PHI!" David exclaimed again, his voice suddenly wild. "The golden ratio! The extreme and mean ratio, the medial section, the divine proportion!" He was practically raving now. "The mean of Phidias!"

The pichu jumped back, not because he had understood a word of what David had just explained, but for the volume of David's voice. It HURT!

"One plus the square root of five all over two!" He was quieter now, more out of his observation of what Alvin had just done. He wasn't trying to scare the pants off of him (although he might've already done so, considering Alvin wasn't wearing any). "It's an important algebraic sequence first described by the Greek philosopher Euclid in 289 BC... although we see the divine proportion in architecture as ancient as the Babylonians..."

"What does it mean?" Alvin asked, relived that David had quieted down, but still no wiser for his attempt to explain. Complex algebraic concepts weren't exactly second nature to pichu, it would seem.

David's jubilation died instantly, and he lowered his arm. "I haven't the foggiest idea..." He knelt down beside the stone, pointing to the writing at the base. "1.6180339887" A pause as David rotated so he could see more "49894848204586834365-"

Alvin cut him off. "I don't need to hear more!" He paused, looking for the pichu equivalent of "irrational number." He found none. "It's just... fluff!" _Where did that word come from? _"It can't be the numbers themselves... there has to be something they represent, or something. Check some of the other rocks!"

This David did, checking every single rock in the outside row. Every one had a good several thousand digits of phi emblazoned on them, possibly more. As one moved up the surfaces of the stones, the digits became closer and closer together, smaller and smaller, until they were nothing more than a single infinitesimal speck. "I don't get it!" He exclaimed, stepping out of the circle and taking another look at the entire formation. "It doesn't make sense! Whoever made this obviously knew what they were doing... but why write this same number on everything?" There had to be a reason... just had to. Everything happened for a reason.

He thought for nearly twenty minutes, pacing back and forth beside the formation, before anything came to mind that might be the solution. Phi was called the divine section for a reason: You could find it just about anywhere. The ratio of the breadth of the lips to the breadth of the nose (at its widest point) is equal to it, as is the ratio of the width of the shoulders to the width of the narrowest part of the waist, or the ratio of the breadth of the lips to the breadth of each eye, and that was only in humans. This number could be found in just about all living things on the planet. Therefore, David could come to only one conclusion about the meaning of this number in this particular context: A universal unity... of all life.

But this was all speculation... but not far from possibility. Whoever had made this had obviously had a great deal of understanding of the universe... of mathematics... and of everything else. Now it was becoming clear just how much they understood. "Alvin... I don't know how this thing works, not yet... but I am beginning to understand, or at least, I think so, that whoever built it had a great deal of universal understanding possibly more than we ourselves now possess." He walked past the first row of stones and over to the second, which were of a lighter shade of blue. "Whatever this thing is, it might be beyond my ability to figure out... I don't even know how far into phi these people were able to get without computers! Without the zero!" This writing was cuneiform... there was yet to be a zero. That in and of itself had made little sense: How could a culture become as advanced as to be able to manipulate the body of a living thing without the mathematical principal of the zero? Aside from that, what had powered the darn thing? Magic wasn't exactly David's cup of tea.

He couldn't change the fact that right now, this made no more sense to him than the idea of a round earth would make to those who were unfortunate enough to be born into the dark ages. Understanding the world alone had taken a good few hundred years... he could only hope this was far faster. He didn't have that much time... and Alvin might have less than twenty...

"Don't tell me that..." The pichu was sounding slightly hurt, and without a doubt disappointed. David had been his one hope... "I need to know... can this change me back?"

David did not answer for some time, looking down at Alvin with as much dignity as he could muster in such a situation. "I need more time... there are seven more rocks, and that center stone. Perhaps one of those will yield more than these others..."

They didn't... all save for the center stone, which was glowing with that slight internal light of something highly energized. David wasn't going to touch that. He stood very close, searching for any writing, or markings, or anything that might give even the slightest clue as to the operation or purpose of this... thing. No such markings existed.

David stood, clearly highly frustrated, taking his cap and throwing it onto the ground with force. "Ahh! I don't understand it!" He kicked the stone, and hard. The only effect that produced was a throbbing pain in his foot. After a few more, ranting moments, it was this pain that brought him down to a reasonable level of calmness.

"Sorry Alvin..." And indeed, the pichu had taken to hiding behind one of the rocks in the inner circle to avoid the loud, foot-stomping wrath of his frustrated pier. "I got a little too worked up there..." He paused, gesturing down at the stone. "You might try touching it... you're already touching it, I don't see what more it could do to you, perhaps attacking it. If you're lucky, they will have built in some kind of automatic reversal into it..."

Alvin heard no more, blinded by this one, fleeting possibility. In less than a second, he had moved up to the stone, reaching towards it with one paw.

David's mind was in high gear, processing the available information at a rate that would've made the average person's eyes water. It took him only moments to put one more piece of the puzzle together, jumping sideways and skidding right into Alvin, just in time to prevent him from making contact with the stone. "Alvin... DON'T!"

In doing so, David enacted the wrath of the inevitable: Alvin, already tense, energy running high at the prospect of returning humanity, was unable to prevent the discharge of electricity that was commonplace when he became startled.

In reflection, David was very glad he wasn't a tall kid: Had he been a few centimeters taller, the bare skin of one leg exposed when he slid to prevent Alvin from touching the stone would've came in contact with it instead of the rubber of his boots. Had he been taller, there would've two pichu returned from the forest... if they even made it out at all.

As it was, the electricity (and this time, there was no lack of it) was restricted to traveling quickly through David's chest before entering the ground, resulting in the singing of some fabric, but only minor burns. Alvin... well, he was much worse for it. Both of his cheeks were thoroughly scorched, and his limbs twitched for a moment as the discharge caused intentional tensing and relaxing of assorted muscles.

Despite the amount of damage he sustained, Alvin stood almost instantly, moving slightly away from David to cry. How could his friend do this to him: Fight to keep him an animal? In his mind, David had been acting completely selfish in preventing him from making contact with the stone. David had always got along better with Pokemon than people... surely he had only acted to keep his good friend in that state!

Had Alvin been human, the complete lack of logic to such thoughts might've made him laugh. David, however, was not laughing. Nor was he crying, though the shock had brought a bit of water to his eyes. Fortunately for him, his body had been touching the ground along its entire length, limiting the distance the electricity had to travel significantly, therefore reducing the damage it wrought by some margin.

"Alvin... I'm sorry..." He pulled himself to his knees beside his friend, reaching out to brush the ash from his cheeks... but Alvin pushed away, standing upon his hind legs and forcing outward using both hands. David did not try to fight it, despite how easy a physical victory might've been. "I had to do that... you _can't_ touch the stone! If you do... bad things will happen!"

Alvin's voice was suddenly offensive, his eyes watery (though there weren't really tears... not in the human sense). "Really? I think you just don't want me to be human again! You always said you liked Pokemon more!"

David quickly concealed a slight smile at this particular suspicion, glancing away momentarily so Alvin could not see the amusement in his eyes. "No!" He shouted, trying to sound hurt. Alvin flattened his ears to his head against the sound, but stood his ground. This time, anger outweighed fear. "If you touch the stone... you might become human again, but... even if you do, I doubt you'll enjoy what will also happen..."

The concern in David's voice was such that Alvin could not ignore it with nothing more than blind suspicion. "How?" He tried not to sound worried or guilty in asking, but failed. Pichu weren't the best in concealing emotion. Not that it even mattered, though. David wasn't able to understand Alvin's words any better than his parents.

"You know that pichu are the babies of richu and pikachu?" David asked Alvin, who nodded rather exaggeratedly. After all that Alvin had been through, how could he not know? "I think this thing... was made to devolve pokemon... but you got in the way..." He paused, searching for the simplest way to explain his observations. "You said that Des shocked you right as you touched the stone... I think that may have been what made it do anything to you, a human being... and if I'm correct..." He sat back, rubbing his now-aching knee joints with the back of one hand. "Pichu are young... they can't breed, nor do they have any desire to do so. At our age as humans, we have recently entered into the ability to reproduce... if the device only changed your species, you should've evolved into pikachu immediately after becoming a pichu, but you didn't..."

These thoughts were making sense to Alvin, at least vaguely, but the grater meaning was still floating out there, just beyond his ability to understand. Subtle hints just didn't seem to work any longer. "What are you saying?"

David looked away, and this time he was the one to blush. "I think it made you younger in physical age as well as appearance... if this thing has some kind of reversal in it... you could be significantly younger. Perhaps it only would've taken you back to that point just before puberty, or perhaps..." The color in his cheeks became slightly more pronounced. "It could turn you into a human baby."

Alvin's face fell, his excitement and joy at the prospect of returned humanity radiating off into the vacuum of space. Even if he could use this to turn back, it would do him little good. He would be no better off in the body of a human baby than he was now, perhaps even worse off. After all, young animals developed much faster than human young... leaving this body for a young human version could permanently erase all of who he was. That was no better than death.

But then again, David could be wrong... his friend could be lying, bluffing, struggling to find that one set of perfect words that might be used to convince Alvin to seek another way to return to humanity, or to give up altogether. And even if David was right, it could be that the thing would only subtract one or two years, just enough to put him before puberty... there were trainers that young! He could go off with Des for those years, until he reached his current age and had to return to school!

This prospect, combined with his overwhelming fear at being so exposed in the forest, and so close to a larger creature, caused Alvin to run around David, over to the stone, and lower his right forelimb just enough to make contact with one paw.

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Remember, rants and update information can be found in my blog. Don't forget to review, as well! I won't get started on the next chapter till I get four, and trust me, this is far from over.


	9. Unwanted Shelter

Chapter 9: Unwanted Shelter

A/N: Yep... no rant. Just a reminder to take a look at my homepage link if you would like to see it, as well as live status information on future updates and all that junk.

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Nothing happened. Alvin waited for a good margin of time, kicked the stone a few times, and even shot it with a few sparks. Despite all his best effort, as well as a great deal of time, he failed to make so much as glow.

David breathed a sigh of relief, smiling in spite of himself. Alvin wasn't a screaming infant... that was something, at least. The youth spat a bit of blood to one side, blinking the moisture from his eyes. When Alvin made contact with the stone, he had been caught so off guard, his teeth closed on his tongue. That wasn't a pleasant sensation.

Alvin backed away, not sure weather to laugh or cry. In his mind, this device had been his only hope; the only remote chance he had; now it was nothing. After only a few seconds, his desire to cry overcame the desire to laugh, so that was what he did, shamelessly collapsing in "tears."

How long Alvin lay there, almost completely unaware of the environment, he could not know. What could know was when David eventually interrupted him, lifting Alvin easily and placing him in that seemingly regular place upon his shoulder.

"Alvin... look!" David exclaimed, pointing with one gloved finger. He hadn't interrupted Alvin's crying for no reason, then.

The space above the stone was alight with eight symbols, bathing the forest floor in a powerful electric blue light. There was no mistaking them; or rather, there was no mistaking their origin, even for Alvin in his weakened state.

Three years prior, several treasure-hunters scavenging Mt. Moon for moonstones had stumbled upon a rather significant archeological find: A tablet, cast in stone, embedded with three different evolution stones (water, thunder, and moon), and covered in a previously unknown writing. Now that Alvin thought about it, the symbols were of the same nature as those on the stones: Unicode Cuneiform. David had read the rocks, could he read this?

"Yes, I can read it..." He answered, long before Alvin could even consider asking. Mind reading made for some awkward situations. He seemed to be almost laughing, which was frustrating to Alvin, as the situation was far from humorous. "It says... well, the closest translation would be..." He actually laughed momentarily, but quickly stifled it at the flood of negative emotions coming from the pichu at his shoulder. "It's telling us that it's... broken. Some kind of overload... and to... use some kind of... control unit... at... I think... Mt. Moon!"

Hope again flooded into Alvin, so overwhelming he nearly shocked David again. This wasn't it, then! This thing... whatever it was... wasn't the answer, but his body wasn't lost forever! There was at least one more possibly many.

It did beg the question: If there were so many dangerous tools floating around (so to speak), why hadn't someone found one before? Why weren't people disappearing left and right? To that question, he had no reply, but it didn't stop him from hoping.

"Mt. Moon? Isn't that in..." Alvin's voice was meek now, returned to its usual calm and collected nature. The words, or perhaps just the fleeting hope, that he was not lost, were enough to restore his composure and erase any anger or resentment he had held to David.

"Kanto, yeah..." David's voice was becoming more calm and collected, as though he had just resigned himself to some terrible, inevitable fate. "That's almost a thousand miles away..."

Still, despite how out of reach that goal seemed, it was not impossible in the same way breathing fire was impossible (at least for an electric type). It just seemed... difficult. Like climbing a tree was difficult.

"I don't see how I can not go there! If this thing says the answer is at Mt. Moon, I have to go look for it. If I don't, I might never be human again!" Alvin turned sideways, somehow managing to keep his hold on David's jacket, shaking the side of his face with all his strength. If David wouldn't take him, perhaps his parents would.

"I know! I'll take you, alright!" He shouted loudly, causing Alvin to step back, flail about for a moment, but then regain his balance. Yes, David knew this might be Alvin's only chance to become human again... but he also knew Mt. Moon was reputed to be nothing small. The device hadn't been specific! And even if they could find it, who was to say using it would be any easer? Then there was the possibility of it already having been found, or stolen... David didn't want to think about it. But walking home and forgetting about it wasn't an option either. They had to go. And David also knew that if anyone Alvin knew had a chance of finding and operating this thing, it was he. To say nothing of him being the only one who could communicate with him. There was no other way.

"You will?" Alvin's fear seemed to fade, as much as such things could. He was still in physical contact with a very large, and to him alien, animal. "Really?" He thought about this for a moment, bringing his mind back to dwell on his parents. Would they approve of this? No more than they approved of his becoming a pichu. If they had their way, he would never have come out here in the first place... thought Alvin wasn't exactly sure the knew. His mother had gone upstairs because he thought David and himself speaking. When she came down again, and they were gone, there would be trouble. But nothing compared to what would happen if he tried to leave. Even if this condition could only be repaired in that way... he had a feeling they wouldn't allow it.

But his parents couldn't stop David from coming, could they? He was their only link to their son, their only chance for ever getting him back. If he told them of what he and Alvin had to do, they would surely listen! Have to listen... "What about my family? What about yours? What about... that place we have to go every day to learn, or... those green sheets we need to get things?"

David was hardly phased by the strange use of words. After all, Alvin's words were nonsense. It was the pichu's thoughts that were important, and he could still think of school and money. "I... don't know... my family will understand if I leave... I've done it before... as to school, we'll just have to hope it doesn't take too long. We can make up the time with private instruction over the summer, or on weekends... as soon as we get you back to normal."

Alvin had a feeling David was lying about his family, but it was for his benefit, and that at least felt good. His words about school... well, after what he had already been though, and all the time David was about to give, they better give them a break! "So... what are we going to do now? Are we going to go back to my house now, or..."

David blinked a few times, watching as the symbols that had been floating in the air were absorbed by the stone once again, returning the small area to a relatively normal state. The young man paused, making up his mind. Alvin had been through enough today... was already going through enough. He was going to give him the rest he deserved even if he wasn't wise enough to ask for it on his own. No more waiting... only doing.

David lifted Alvin off the ground, setting him down on one of the rocks. The pichu swayed for a moment, but manage to keep his two-legged stance, less he fall a good foot (the equivalent of five feet to his human size) back to the forest floor. "David? What are we going to do?" Alvin didn't suspect a thing. Perfect.

David fumbled around in his pocked, finding the object he desired and moving that arm behind his back, properly configuring the small spherical device for operation. "You're not going to do anything... I don't know how long it will take to get this trip together... it could take days, perhaps even weeks. I won't let you sit around and do nothing for that time... I don't want you to lose what hasn't been taken already..."

Alvin knew what was coming, and also knew that he had but one chance to stop it. Doing so did not involve attacking, or running away... "Please... no. I'm fine, really! Don't..."

His words fell on def ears (Although it was more accurate to say it was his thoughts which David refused to heed). "No, you're not! Before today, I hadn't seen you cry! How long have we known each other... three years now? That isn't the worst of it... your mind..." He searched for the proper words to describe something he was obviously not used to putting into words. "It's different... so different, it scares me. You look almost like Des... I'm surprised we can even still talk! I don't know how long it will take for us to lose even that..." He turned on one heel, taking careful aim with his right arm, as though he was about to pitch a baseball.

At this point, Alvin knew it was hopeless. When David made up his mind about something, that was it. Despite weather he was really sure about it. Which meant he had two choices: Run into this heavily populated forest minuets before night by himself, or face the object he knew David to be holding. One would almost surely lead to his physical demise, while the other... he couldn't be sure. David might be right; It might just help preserve his mind; It might just speed him right down the other road, though. But if he chose the latter of the two choices, at least he was guaranteed to survive. It all came down to the question: Which was worse, Physical death or losing the essence of one's mentality? Alvin was out of time to choose. Death or... this?

He thought back to the night before. To the peace of the night, and the comfort he had felt with Des. He hadn't understood what those peculiarly glowing specks in the sky were, not liked he used to... but Alvin no longer felt such to be required. He had felt good just being there. "Don't forget Des..."

David nodded just before releasing the pokeball, it's course direct and sure. He would not miss, and the both knew it. Alvin had just enough time to make eye contact with David, his eyes watery and hurt, before the ball found its target.

The round metal object bounced off of him once, and fell to the floor, pulling Alvin down with it. David had not thrown hard, but his sense of direction was completely wrong... confused! He fought against the overwhelming, drawing, force with all the might and determination of an animal hopelessly trapped, but all was to no avail. It took only moments for the world of fading sunlight to vanish from Alvin's sight. He felt oppressed, compacted forcefully on all sides, and he fought some more.

_No... it won't take me... I can't let it!_ He thought wildly, wriggling and squirming, moving in any way that was within possibility. His body was fading... falling away and falling apart into an overwhelming mist that seemed to permeate every fiber of his being. Just as soon as this flood of emotions and feelings came, it fled, leaving Alvin utterly alone and empty. There was no body... no mind... and within moments, he was unaware of anything.

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"-ace. We've got twenty-three more units in 'training' as we speak. If all goes well, they should be deployed within the fortnight." The voice was timid, fleeting, but reserved. The tall man clicked his rubber heals together once out of sheer nervousness, eyes fixed on some point off to the right of the man to whom he was speaking.

"You see that it does. I'm sure you know what fate awaits you, should you fail." The boss's voice was as cool and calm as that of a man who was completely secure and confident in his superiority. Perhaps it was Italian heritage, or perhaps he was just evil; for despite all the best efforts of the taller man sitting on the receiving end of the desk, he could not avoid Giovanni's eyes. The man dressed in the plain brown suit was a predator, and this other was his prey.

This office was formed in a way very different most of the other rooms in this particular outpost of Team Rocket; it lacked the plain metal walls, the raised single light of red florescent lights. Instead, its floor was of zebrawood, and the walls were of a stained oak paneling. Instead of the Spartan feeling of lighting, two elaborate brass lamps stood at either side of the desk (which was equally as fine as the rest of the room), casting a shadowy light into the rest of the room.

In this place, practicality and economics had been put aside for the more important task of giving the boss an ego-job. After all, he was the boss. If a few hundred thousand would make him feel that much better (and hence, become angry as irregularly as possible), it would be worth every penny invested.

"I kn-know, sir." He stuttered, looking away again. The personality and behavior of the man sitting in the handcrafted leather chair might not have been in doubt, but the behavior of this tall, most-bald man was different; the "I can't believe what I got myself into" kind of different. Yes, he knew what happened to those who failed in high places. Occasionally, if they had held enough favor before the crucial failure, they might be permitted to resign, taking a modest pension off to live the rest of their days and never showing their faces in any Rocket affair again. If they already lacked favor... well... things could get much uglier.

That was how Raiden Adair had come to his current position: His predecessor had found disfavor. Although Raiden greatly appreciated the new numbers on his paycheck every month, the danger of dealing with the boss directly just didn't seem worth it. How many of his predecessors had disappeared the same way Miles had?

"Good. And just how much have the existing teams accomplished so far?"

Raiden avoided his probing looks, and did his best to also avoid the probing words. He didn't have a satisfactory answer, and they both knew it. "Well Sir... They've scouted three possible sights for the beachhead- "

The boss interrupted "Our scans did that. If you're too stupid to know what I'm asking, perhaps I should use more direct language: Have they found it yet? What about the one our end... is it working?"

Raiden blushed. "Not... entirely, sir. There's just too much ground to cover! We'll find it, I know we will! My teams need more time..."

Giovanni's anger was clearly rising, but it was also clear he had been in a relatively good mood and was doing his best to keep it that way. "I've given you all the time you need. One week. If you aren't done by then, I'll find someone who is better at meeting our scheduling demands."

The scientist-turned-supervisor shuddered at the thought those words had inspired, nodded clearly, and walked from the room, careful to shut the door lightly as he left. What had he got himself into this time?

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This new awareness was hundreds of times more strange than his first few moments of pichu awareness had been. What was first complete darkness was now a pale, white light, permeating the whole of what he could observe. He had no visible body, no substance, but then, neither did anything else. An endless void of white light. _Am I... dead? _He asked himself, if those pronouns could be even considered proper anymore. He had been somewhere... where was it? A forest! He had been standing... on a rock... and a giant had thrown something at him, and now he was here. What had happened to him?

His body had to exist somewhere, in some form, or he would not be thinking about his own existence. Perhaps if he could bring his mind closer to that place, he would get some idea of what was going on.

It was this thought, this attempt to return to his body (which was already there in the form of energy), that caused what happened next. The void became less empty... a chest, arms, legs, slight whiskers on the end of an even slighter nose, his tail, and that little ruff of black fur along his neck. He was a pichu.

No longer was his mind floating aimlessly, however. As soon as the body was there, he was inside it. It was his body... with his body back, it took only moments for him to remember just what had happened, and where he was. He had been, and in fact, was now, inside a pokeball. Which meant his body wasn't real. If that were so, perhaps he could change it? If he had made a body for himself, just what else could he make.

Upright... humans walk upright... he thought, closing his eyes and thinking hard. With his concentration, his body changed, lengthening and shifting to a more erect, two-legged stance. As his limbs lengthened, pale yellow fur spread with them, until he looked very much like a human being... if you discounted the tail, gigantic ears, and paws rather than ordinary feet. His hand were somewhere in-between, shaped slightly like human hands, but with fur, pads, and claws.

He thought for a minute, concentrating, trying with all his might to return completely to human form. He could not_. All right... I can't become human, but maybe I can get something to stand on..._ he thought, turning his attention to the floor. What would be easy to remember? His first thought was of his recent vacation to the orange islands, where he had learned to dive, but for some reason, he was unable to turn anything real as he was with his body. _But if this is my mind, there must be another option! But what could it be?_ He searched his fractured brain, thinking for anything that might be used in constructing this environment. He had used a forest before...

Just as it had the first time, he skipped right over that image of the forest by his home, ignoring it as though it had not been there at all. Something was preventing him from accessing recent memories (or rather, recent human ones. He had no trouble remembering things that had happened to him as a pichu)... perhaps something less so? He thought back to the ski vacation his family had taken when he was eleven, remembering the little village up on the hill that was the starting place for the first lift. It took only a moment, and hardly any concentration, before the endless, drifting void of white solidified into that little village. The icy stone path appeared instantly beneath him, along with the street to his left (bordered on the far side by many shops), and the hotels as well as the pokemon center to his right. In the distance off to the far left, he could see the snow-covered mountain, and a long row of gondola cars being hoisted along the cable to its peak.

His paws crunched along the icy surface, but he felt no pain, and no cold. Perhaps it was the insulation of his fur... or that light pair of pants that had appeared as mysteriously as the rest of this environment. The air was crisp, clean, and completely absent of pollution (though this was a normal thing in most areas, at altitude this effect is unusually amplified). From the small carts here and there, to the piles of snow that had been scooped off to one side, everything was complete. Everything, except the people. The area was deserted, completely devoid of life.

Aside from Alvin, who, now that he realized it, felt... different. (Assuming he had even retained one form long enough to attach a regularity to it) He felt like he had when Des had shocked him... so full of energy he was ready to explode. It only took him a few moments to figure out why.

This place looked exactly as it had four years ago... _exactly_ as it had. Four years of aging should've reduced the scale at which many of the objects appeared, but no such thing occurred. He was exactly the same size as before... combined with this feeling of great energy and little reserve, this could only mean... he was no older than he had been when he gathered these memories. If anything, being part pichu made him about two inches shorter than his human counterpart would've been, so everything was larger.

Alvin stopped at the door to the lobby of the lodge in which he had stayed, took a hold of the massive metal handle, and with difficulty, pushed the gigantic door ajar. The massive oak chamber, complete with a merrily crackling fire on the right side (surrounded by the many fancy leather and carved wood furniture pieces often found in such hotels), with the front desk to the left (as always, flush with the wall with a compartment behind it for those who worked at the hotel, made of granite, and standing far too high for him to see over). Just as before, the only thing missing from this perfect copy was the people, who should be gathered around the fire drinking coffee, manning the front desk, or waiting in line at that desk for their assorted needs.

Now both humans and pichu are very social creatures (most of the time), and it was at about this point Alvin began to feel both lonely and scared, with the first being much more prominent. What if he was stuck here forever, all alone in this huge place? What would he eat? His mental discussion with David (though for some reason he could not remember the details), had seemed to take quite some time, but in reality had only occupied a few moments. If it would take weeks for David to organize everything outside this small, isolated universe, just how long would he be trapped in here? Food became a real concern... but only until he realized the absurdity of that thought. Assuming he would even feel hunger in this state (which was unlikely, considering his body had become energy), he had made this entire place appear; surely he could bring food to go along with it! But people... could he do that? If the environment had been an exact copy of that he had seen here those years ago, would the people be as well? If that was the case... his friends who had also been along for the trip with their families... what would they think of him? What would anyone think of him? This particular body wasn't exactly commonplace!

"There's another way... I know!" His voice echoed oddly in the empty, though there was only he to hear it. Perhaps instead of summoning up the images of the three other young trainers who had been along for this trip (namely David, as well as Tanner & Tyler, who David and Alvin often spoke of as "The twins") directly from his memory, perhaps he could make them... like he was? Instead of bringing everyone here, bring only the three. That seemed easy enough thinking about, but how hard would it be to put into practice? Alvin was about to find out.

Bringing his three friends into existence had been easier than he had first anticipated, even with the modified forms they would hold. His only difficulty was in bringing David: he had wanted to combine him with a psychic pokemon, but despite all his best efforts, he seemed to only be able to change his friends in such a way that they were very similar to himself, namely, combining them with electrical rodents. David ended up being a Pikachu (at least some of the way), while Tanner and Tyler were Plusle and Minum respectively.

What interested Alvin most is that when they appeared, not a single one expressed surprised at their own appearance, or at Alvin's. As though they had never been exposed to a human being before. Nor did David react unusually when Tanner and Tyler appeared from thin air, only nodding once to Alvin with a smile and a knowing look that said quite plainly he knew exactly what was going on.

Likewise, it was Alvin's inhuman version of David who first spoke. "It's boring out here... let's get our stuff and hit the slopes!" He turned to the door on the opposite side of the room, the set of large glass double doors that would lead right to the valet, with the gondola only a few steps beyond.

The twins were the first to move, dashing hand-in-hand through the door before the other two could scarcely move. The very air around them seemed to light momentarily with sparks as they moved. David met eyes only once with Alvin before taking off too.

Though his own incarnations of their minds were not changed significantly, they were still the images of eleven year olds (or in the twin's case, two ten-year-olds), and those images were every bit as immature as the real versions had been all that time ago. The pichu stood in place for several seconds, pondering his next actions carefully. He was inside a pokeball... who knew how long it would be before David came for him. No matter how shamelessly immature he acted, there wouldn't even be simulated adults to chastise him, and there would be no real danger. If he was going to be here for days, or even weeks, he might as well enjoy it.

With one slight nod to the spot David had been only moments before, Alvin took off after his friends, through the doors, and into the valet shed.

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A/N: That's it! Although... remember I'll be looking for a few reviews before I start the next chapter...


	10. Intriguing Conclusions

Chapter 10: Intriguing Conclusions

A/N: There really isn't anything much to say these days, is then? Other than to expect a revision of chapters 4-9 sometime soon, but not necessarily before chapter eleven. Take a look at the blog for more information. As you know, the blog can be accessed using the "homepage" link on my profile. That is all.

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-ays now, I think I've got everything worked our right, should the situation ever require it. Based on what I think I know, it wouldn't be too much of a stretch to guess that. For Alvin's sake, I sure hope I'm right, but for mine... I'm not so sure. Nor am I sure about weather I would enjoy or detest being in his position.

I don't think he's realized what the benefits of his position could be... when I'm around, and presumably, when I'm not, Alvin seems to act as human as he can... does he realize that I'm not holding him to our standards like this? What about his own parents... perhaps he thinks his parents or some other individuals will think of less of him... despite being gifted as I have, his mind no longer reads anything like...

David paused in his writing, licking the tip of his pen, and using his free hand to flip on one of the lights, glancing only once out the porthole to his right, to the sun, casting amber shadows across the dancing sea.

...well, I was going to say... but then; books aren't exactly renoun for their thinking ability, are they? No... His mind doesn't feel human at all to me, which is most unusual given his behavior. Perhaps some Pokemon are more like "us" then I've previously thought-

Alvin could still communicate in English when they were connected telepathically, as no other pokemon could. Well, that was wrong... Alvin could communicate in English when they were connected, and there were no pokemon David had met with a similar capacity. This wasn't to say he couldn't read most of Alvin's desires and emotions when they weren't, but if he hadn't known better... he wouldn't have thought him anything more than a highly mature pichu. And in this, David did not know weather to be encouraged or deterred.

-I don't know... Given a bit of time, I'm sure Alvin could answer that question. He seems to be able to communicate perfectly with them. The big question in my mind is weather he would wish such a thing, and unfortunately, I already know the answer. Perhaps if we can find a definite cure, he might be willing to stay a few more days to help me learn more of pokemon mentality. If not, I'm sure I could do just as well from his position.

Still, such option will be held for the time that we discover a cure. Science is nice, but self-sacrifice is hardly the way to push it forward. Alvin wouldn't be able to write my results properly anyway... but then again, if my aforementioned calculations are correct, as I am sure they are, would being stuck really be so bad?

It's an interesting proposition, to be sure. On the one hand, we have this animal world: Completely free of restriction, ruling, or prejudice. The ultimate selfish aspiration: A complete and total connection of one's own needs with the desire to fulfill them. Aside from that, without humanity or its tools, food will only be as plentiful as one's own ability to obtain it, not to mention the lack of medicine should illness afflict.

And on the other side, humanity... Restriction, lack, hunger, reservation, fear (though I can't see animals having less of this than we humans do), not to mention the petty flaws and intolerances of imperfect individuals. But also... selflessness, industry, creativity...

He paused in his writing, silencing the movements of his pen just long enough to hear a few of the more resounding cords of Beethoven's _"Quasi una fantasia"_, echoing in the confines of his small metal chamber. The piece was hundreds of years old, the legacy of a genius who's body had long turn to ashes and dust.

Of humanity, we have creative genius, technical promise, and immortality through great works. Music...

Music was one of David's favorite things, the more ancient classical pieces in particular. One of those goals he had never quite completed was the learning of the piano... it were pieces like this that had the power to move the hearts of men who's greatest descendents had yet to be conceived.

There is, though, the potential, and often the immoral practice of humans to abuse these gifts. Team Rocket in particular... just how much theft and murder can one group of people get away with? In this animal kingdom, and perhaps with Alvin, now, I can't imagine anything like that ever happening. True, they eat each other for food, and often attack each other for species, territory, or mates, but there are almost never more complex motives. The evil that is bureaucracy these creatures will never know, and money could never be a factor. Thus, they would be immune to greed.

Regardless, that option will be held in reserve indefinitely. At the moment, Alvin needs me on two legs far more than he could on four. Speaking of which...

David put down the paperback journal in which he had been writing, pulling from his belt that light ball that now held his dearest (former) human friend.

With the hand that still held the pen, David finished the paragraph: Alvin's been in there for four days now... I don't know just how much of an insulation for his mind that could've been, but I suppose now is as good a time as any for me to find out. I'm sure he'll appreciate the break, anyway...

Having pokemon out on this ship outside of designated areas was prohibited, but after being underway for two days, David doubted very much they would be angry at him, or be able to do anything about any objection they may've held. Besides; how could they even find out? This cabin, small as it was, was a private chamber. It was David's, and David's alone. No one would see.

The youth pushed the clutter of notes and other paper items from the bed beside him with one arm, set the pokeball down, and pressed the release key in the center.

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The last and most recent interval of time had passed a blur of events for Alvin. Had it been merely hours or weeks, he could not say. What he was sure about was what he had done with these interesting incarnations of his friends. Apart from perfecting his skiing ability, he had; gone swimming, seen a few very strange movies in the nearby theater, ridden the gondola up to the observation deck, taken a good, long hike in the snow, and learned to (with the addition of heavy cream) melt ice into ice cream. By all accounts, it had been a relaxing holiday... aside from it never happening.

The days had all smashed together in one large conglomeration of joy, fear, and surprise. For one; he was surprised at so naturally the images of his friends coped with such strange appearances, instincts, and emotion, with actions that suggested they had no knowledge of how things would've been different if their state of humanity was maintained. Tanner and Tyler, always recklessly plowing down the slopes before David or Alvin could step off the lifts (which seemed to mysteriously activate as the group approached, and deactivate when they left), leaving a trail of sparks in their wake.

Being the smallest had been an interesting change too. As a human being, even this many years ago, Alvin had always been the tallest and strongest of their little group (but like the others, he still had little visible muscle that wasn't involved in his own transportation), but now... now the opposite was true. Even the twins, who were at least six inches and several pounds shy of David, were at least a quarter of a foot taller, and a great deal lighter, each. At least these images never seemed to complain about Alvin's frequent naps. He couldn't help it. Even in here, he seemed to get tired. That didn't really make much sense, but who was there from him to complain to, anyway?

Though Alvin could scarcely remember every day, it had seemed at least two weeks, perhaps more. So much time, that they had run out of things to do. That wasn't to say Alvin could try to imagine more into reality, but doing so with places he had not actually visited when he had come the first time might destabilize this image... he wasn't about to risk that. These four individuals now sitting beside him on that single bench overlooking the very peak of the observation deck, licking thoughtfully at fruit flavored ice-creams it was obviously far too cold to eat, seemed just as much like true people, just as real to him as their human counterparts were in the ever-changing world beyond. He knew this state could not be maintained forever, knew that any moment, these beside him could fade away into the white mists and light of his own memory and never be seen again.

Unfortunately for him, any moment was far sooner then he had wished. For just as David raised the blue, sugar-based confection he was holding in one pawed hand, the world seemed to dissolve from before him. Alvin's friends seemed to wave one last time as they too vanished in the swirling mists.

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Alvin blinked up at the human David, his body still frozen numbly in that standing position he had occupied just as David forced him to retreat into the pokeball's seemingly dark depths.

Instantly, and without prior warning, Alvin released all of the electricity he could muster into David, producing a shock that caused more than moderate burns... or at least, it would've, had David not seen this coming. He was wearing one of those little static-protection armbands one wore when manipulating sensitive machinery, its single alligator clip firmly attached to the steel wall of the ship beside him. The thin cord had been nothing near the gauge necessary for dealing with the amount of electricity Alvin had fired his way, but the combination of it, and the large interference of such a colossal metal object's (namely, the ship) magnet field, David was spared from all but the mildest of jolts.

And amazingly, almost inexplicably, Alvin had been largely spared from the effects of his own lack of control as well. Possibly a few days in a pokeball had given him a larger mastery of this body. More than possibly, it seemed almost undeniable. Nevertheless, the electric discharge, large as it was, had done little to overwrite the anger and annoyance he felt at David for the direct violation of his wishes. Sure, being inside had been nice, and he no longer had any reservation about doing so, but these facts could not change those that David had written four days hence, which had prevented Alvin from any action other than participation in his own memory, as well as modified incarnations of his own memory. Alvin could only observe his friend, in that David hardly seemed perturbed by the large pocket of electrons that had careened into him. He would've shocked him again, but for using his entire store of energy on the first wave.

"David! I can't believe you did that!" Unlike before, when he had been desperately trying to convince David that he was completely stable and calm, Alvin had no threat of impending doom hanging over his head. "Do you realize what you could've done?" His outraged shout did quiet significantly on this second statement, but that was more to his realization that he was no longer standing on a stump than anything else.

From his perspective, the small metal chamber was a cavernous vaulted room, but with just enough floor space to run in a large circle on corrugated metal. The single bedside table that housed several of David's smaller belongings as well as the alarm clock was just below head level, and with a start that pushed him forward once more onto all fours, Alvin realized the entire room was moving. It hadn't been the shock of this that had pushed him forward, though, but rather, one of the larger and more elaborate rocking motions of their vessel. He was far too short to see anything but blank sky out the single, round window.

"I knew the risks... but I didn't see the likelihood of anything like that very high. I was right, it would seem. You look intact..." He smiled slightly despite having just been shocked, smoothing down his unruly hair with the back of one hand. The static band had helped, but it was still standing as it would had he been in contact with a Van De Graph generator. When he was done with his own hair, David began fingering that little tuft of fur on Alvin's head that marked the spot where a full head of human hair had been only a week before.

Alvin hardly reacted to this: Quite the contrary, he was so absorbed in their conversation that he scarcely at all noticed what David was doing. During his time in the pokeball, his friends messing with his hair in a brotherly sort of way had become almost routine... as such, with such a short stretch of time between then and now, he hardly noticed. "Yes, I am fine now... and I was fine there, too. I would've rather been our here though... I might've helped you!"

This quite obviously wasn't true. Unless David planned on entering one of those cutest pokemon contests, Alvin was far more harm than help. He needed food, water, attention, and lots of sleep... and when he thought about it, the Pokeball really did make the most sense. Now that he was sure it would not cause him harm, he would be much less objective to it in the future.

David chose to point none of this out, however. Alvin already felt inadequate and useless, this the gift told him. To point out further inadequacy and how he really had been of zero use could hardly serve to bolster the pichu's self-confidence. Instead, he chose to strengthen a topic Alvin had already (in part) began, in combination with genuine curiosity. "Just how fine were you? I've always wondered... we all know how the pokeball works, converting matter into energy and storing it with aid of an intense electromagnetic field... but we don't really have any idea what it actually feels like... thought now, I guess you do. What's it like?"

Alvin's anger seemed to dissipate hundreds of times faster than it had come, the potential to provide beneficial information, and to be of service to mankind in general, provided relief from this feeling of inadequacy. "It's so strange... at first, it's like... going down in one of those boxes that people ride up and down," No word for elevator. Blast it all. "And at the same time, being pulled smaller and smaller... when that goes away, the inside is completely white light, which thinking can change to match memory or imagination." He paused for a moment, thinking back to all the skiing and swimming, and tanning, and all those other things he had done with his little trope of friends made from modified memories. "How long was I in there? It felt like... days... or weeks... a really long time, either way."

David began to frown slightly when Alvin said this. Weeks? So a pokeball was far less of an insulator for the mind than he would've thought. Granted, he hardly showed the deterioration possible for the time he had enacted in his own mind, but if it seemed like more time... well, it would be a win-lose situation. Little better than being out and about.

"You've been in the pokeball for four days and three hours, but I'm sorry to say this trip is far from over. This isn't a ship for trainers... I will have to put you back... and it isn't a fast boat, either, so it may take several more days still. I didn't have much money on hand..." David flushed slightly at this comment, but Alvin was hardly upset. David was giving everything to help him now... going far above and beyond the call of duty. This was what best friends did, but still... he had no grounds to hold any anger or frustration against David, at least for this. "If you weren't so small, I wouldn't be able to let you out for a time even as short as this... but from what I hope I know about this ship..." He glanced to the flat panel of sensors on one of the walls with a somewhat worried expression. "You shouldn't generate enough heat or energy, even when attacking, to set off security. At least, not at first. That attack of yours, though... I don't know by how much, but I'm willing to bet that considerably limited the amount of time we'll be able to keep you out." He blushed slightly more. "I know you don't like pokeballs, and I'm sorry for what I did before... there is a daycare onboard! If you would like, you could stay there for the last few days with Des! The price was included for all patrons!"

_Many pokemon, including Des?_ That idea seemed strangely appealing, if unwise. But aside from the risk of losing more humanity by association, there was the enormous potential that he might, perhaps, learn to do a bit more than crudely blast electricity David's way. He had never had one, but rumor had it that, with patience, it was even possible to teach pichu "Zap Cannon," one of the most powerful (albeit inaccurate) electrical attacks that exist. With a move like that in his capacity, Alvin would be able to participate much more wholly should self defense as a need arise.

"Sure! But not for a few days... I'm not ready for something like that, not yet... I would like to learn a bit more about wild Pokemon first."

David didn't look heartened or reassured by this remark. "I don't think there's any way to do that here... I brought a few books, but I don't think either of them would be of any use to you. And my Pokedex... that might help. Trouble is, human knowledge is only so much. With time you might be able to help fill that gap, but I doubt such would be of any use to you."

Alvin was unperturbed. "When we're done talking, just put me back in the pokeball. I'll be able to learn enough to make it with Des's help... at least I hope so." David had said this wasn't a ship for trainers. If that were true, it was unlikely there would be many Pokemon in this day care. Apart from making sense, this would make things much easier on Alvin. The fewer there were to deal with, the easier time he would have adapting... assuming the number of other species were reduced. His body was quite fond of the idea of other members of his species, as well as other electrical rodents, with which to play and otherwise associate with.

"If you're sure... unless you decide to go to the day-care right this very moment, I don't think we have much of a choice. Sure, these thermal-sensors are weak, but we can only expect to fool whichever guard is watching them for so long. I don't want to take too many chances, and every second puts us in more risk. If it's alright, I'll leave you In your Pokeball until I'm checking you in the daycare?"

This statement, if perhaps, not the question itself, was appalling to Alvin on more than one level. True, it made perfect sense, and was highly practical, but it multiplied that feeling of inadequacy by a good several times. Check _you_ in. _Your_ pokeball. David's manner of speech made him feel like... like... a child, perhaps even a baby. At the moment, the irony of it was not the least bit amusing. He felt so strongly so that, in a way most unlike anything he would've dreamt of doing in humanity, Alvin began to cry, burring his face in the perfect and compete concealment offered by the reflective side of the sleeping bag David had placed there. Though, like before, tears weren't such a prominent thing so much as the sound; a high, pitiful wailing perfectly suited for any infant who had not met his or her daily quota of milk.

Immediately David began stroking his fur lightly again, no longer feeling embarrassed in doing so. Alvin was soft, and he could feel that it was stress reliving for the both of them. While there were certainly considerable losses in Alvin's loss of humanity, there could be little doubt as to what David preferred. While it had been unfair of Alvin to assume David had attempted to keep him in the pokemon state because he preferred him in such a state, the observation itself had not been flawed. Pokemon thoughts were much more peaceful, relaxed, and regular. Having a friend one could communicate with on human level who's thoughts did not "Stink" of rotting fish and burning rubber was a pleasant change.

"Don't cry Alvin, please..." Had he not been aware of his thoughts, Alvin's lack of words would've prevented David from gathering any clue as to why the pichu was suddenly upset. Fortunately for the both of them, telepathy worked in one way as well as interactively. "I didn't mean to say it like that, alright? It was an accident... what I meant was: This pokeball would be a good place for you to stay for the next few days, until you are ready to go to the day care."

This apology was lame, and thought it was clearly not well thought out, there was a depth and sincerity to David's voice which soothed Alvin's tears as soon as they had started (clearly, his emotions were no longer lived than the average human teenager's, and as easy to heal in the short term as any young child's could be)

"O-ok... that s-sounds alright to me... Alvin paused, glancing around the room, and pausing in silence only momentarily to listen to the straining sounds of ancient classical echoing from the one of David's earpieces that was not currently attached to an ear. "I'm ready... or as ready as I ever can be for something like this... I don't care how many times I do this, it will never feel right... now I know why Des hates it so much." True, going inside would never appeal to him, but at least his activities once there would be pleasant, and this time, with luck, much easer to begin. Alvin did not think to mention his inability to access human memories from after puberty when inside, nor the ease at which he had gathered information on those things which had happened so long before. With that much extra information, David would've known far more about his current state, and what would happen to him should a way to return to humanity ever be devised.

David paused momentarily, lifting the empty pokeball to the light and inspecting it for a few moments more. He had held similar if not identical devices in his hands hundreds of times, but when one held your best friend, it meant a great deal more. Then, with one sharp movement involving the pressure of a single key, the beam of red light quickly found Alvin, returning him to that prison of imagination and memory.

David smiled to himself, watching the light completely fade from the sky above, miniaturizing the pokeball and returning it to his belt beside the other five. He sat in silence and stillness for a long time, eyes distant and unfocused. Then, with a slight flick of his right wrist David picked up his limp pen once more, and taking his journal on the bed before him, he began to write.


	11. Preemptive Preparations

Chapter 11: Preemptive Preparations

A/N: Nothing much to say that I don't usually... take a look at my blog for rants any everything on my homepage link. Please not that, to my blog, I've added a poll, who's answers will dictate the future of the story. Go vote if you care.

Special thanks to Kazundo's Advocate for editing this chapter.

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Alvin and David had both been right in thinking there wouldn't be many Pokemon at the day care in a ship not intended to carry trainers. Aside from a tenticool floating happily away inside a large aquarium in one corner of the large room, a shapeless grey/purple blob stuffed between two rocks, and a magnemite attached to one of the support columns, the cavernous space was considerably lacking for life. The way it had been built, however, suggested the ship, even if it did not carry many trainers now, had once transported a slew of them.

The facility was as large as the largest of rooms could be expected to be on a ship this size, with a vaulted ceiling and about five hundred square feet of floor space. Unlike the rest of the ship, the floor, walls, and other support structures were not plainly finished steel. Instead, all surfaces, flat or otherwise, were painted with vivid, lifelike murals depicting the wilderness regions of the world.

The floor was the most interesting, decorated and carpeted to seem like one of six different natural environments: tundra, forest, jungle, desert, alpine, and coastal (not to be forgetting the large aquarium taking up one entire corner of the room). Every area had its own plastic trees or rocks (though a few of each were real), its own Astroturf or similar carpeting, and its own complimenting environmental attributes. A concrete path divided the area into squares of about equal size, ensuring each climate was well separated defined. Nonetheless, because of the mixing of temperatures the area between the fabricated regions was often turbulent and unstable, prone to the formation of small odd dust devils that kicked up sand and other debris.

There was no human staff on hand (which was understandable, considering the small number of Pokemon actually using the facility). Instead, David checked Alvin and Des into the facility using the AI panel plastered to the front door, entering his own personal contact information, his room, and credit account information before the doors would admit him (after printing out a little sheet which would let him back in after the voyage was over to retrieve his Pokemon). His second encounter with Alvin was brief and unceremonious. After releasing both mice in the forest area, he remained only long enough to whisper words of encouragement before darting out, the automatic doors closing and locking behind him with a definite crash, which spoke to Alvin in a way beyond words. All it said was: "You're stuck with pokemon for the next two days, and there is nothing you can do about it."

Alvin remained silent and still for several long moments, fascinated at the detail and accuracy these people had assembled this place. Day Care was an inaccurate name for it... Day Care implied peppy, skimpily dressed women in pink skirts who talked with their eyes closed, who cared for your pokemon. This was an unmanned technological marvel.

"Wow... they really did a good job with this place!" He had put Des in similar facilities before, but never anything as grandly proportioned or accurately depicted as this.

Des was unimpressed. "It's a strange place... it smells like outside... looks like outside... but I see a desert through the trees! That doesn't make sense!" Des moved to stand on a nearby stump, looking around with curious eyes and perked ears. Finding no predators or other animals that would bring risk to them, he clambered back down beside Alvin.

Just looking at the pair would be enough to tell that, even if the entirety of their conscious minds were not confused, instinct was sure thrown into chaos. Surprisingly enough, this was quickly becoming more than just a slight relief for Alvin. Normally, the tight and complete dominance of instinct held a constant strain and influence on his actions... but instinct was based on strict observance to predisposed patters... this wasn't like going inside, when he was left completely without guide, rather, there were several different pictures of the world, each one different for seventy-five square feet.

Where instinct fled, human intellect took its place (at least temporarily). His human side told him that getting better control over this body, its capabilities, its attacks, its limits... these next two days would be a perfect opportunity to discover and perfect those where his ever-present mortality would not be looming over him like a specter ready to take him out of pain an misery for good. If this situation was going to kill him, he would go down fighting like a man, not squealing like the mouse he truly was. And it wasn't just human foresight that told him this time should be used in productive study and training. His pichu side, weakened as it was for those few brief moments, longed for the chance to make real use of his electrical abilities, as well as the speed an energy that seemed inexhaustible (that was, unless you counted the eighteen hours of sleep he got a day in the form of intermittent naps).

"Des... do you think you could... help me get better somehow?" Alvin's cheeks sparked slightly, and he stood as straight in a two-legged stance as he could... trying with all of his might to look dignified. This didn't stop Des from laughing. The reversal of situations was so ironic even an infantile mind could not chance to miss it.

"You mean, train you? Like a... trainer? You want me to train you?"

Alvin's eyes were suddenly firmly fixed on his lower paws, pointedly avoiding Des's gaze. His cheeks were alight with such brightness and intensity that a few stray bolts grazed the sand. "Y-yes. If we get attacked again, I don't want to be useless. I've seen battling pichu before. With enough training, I might be able to take care of myself until... I can change back."

"Alright!" Des paused for a moment, deciding something in his head before putting it into words. Before they got started proper, it was time for a bit of payback for last summer. "Start running. If you stop, I'll shock you." It was hardly a threat... if anything, a shock would just give him the energy to keep going longer.

The pichu got the point, and with a pang of regret, took off through the forest, than the jungle, then over the tundra... in an endless circular shape, doing his best to avoid the concrete. He didn't have the gift, but he didn't need it to know why Des was making him run. Des had put on a bit of weight over the last summer... getting that "chubby" look that many of the older of his kind often did. Alvin, not at all keen on the two-year-old animal looking like he was ten, or the vast decrease in battle performance it was likely to bring, had run Des... every day for four weeks... every morning, for a good few hours. The pace was nothing more than a light jog for the long-legged human trainer, but nothing short of exhausting for Des. Several miles every morning, combined with an immense decrease in calorie intake had eventually restored Des to fighting status (and done nothing bad for Alvin, either) Now that Des had the longer legs and Alvin had far less endurance, the tables were turned. It was too hard on him... Alvin's mother always said... she said Des would make him pay, too... and she had been right. He was paying for it.

Not once did he think to point out that running would have no direct effect on his performance in combat, and not even the beginnings of disobedience crept into his mind. Not only was the pichu body prime to obey direction from any pikachu he trusted (provided, of course, it didn't interfere with curiosity, which was ALWAYS first priority), but his human mind had always been one to play fair and to follow rules. He had just agreed, nay, requested, that Des be his trainer for the next few days. Part of having a trainer was expecting complete obedience from your pokemon... he had never expected anything less from Des. These were his just deserts, had he was going to take them like a man.

At least, that was what he told himself. Again, and again, and again. Seemingly hundreds of laps blurred together into one gigantic, never-ending circuit that was his journey around the room, Des always right on his heels (figuratively, of course. He had heels, but not in the way humans do). This cold-turkey self-motivation worked for fifteen or so times around the room... but his infantile body could only be pushed so far.

He managed to squeeze in one last lap under sheer willpower (and Des's constant encouragement) before the weakness, as well as the lactic acid building up in his muscle tissue, got the better of him, and he collapsed, motionless, in a heap, scarcely able to breathe. He had not said a word during the entire "run" (which, as it turned out, had only been about a half-mile)... not shown a single sign of pain or weakness... until he could run no longer.

Desumo, however, had not been joking. More out of amusement than a determination to see Alvin complete whatever standard he had for him, Des let loose enough electricity into his small pichu body to jump start one of those strange human crawler transporter things. There were, however, no burns, no injuries... not so much as a stray spark. Des knew exactly where to hit Alvin (a small portion on the back of the head which would discharge directly into the electricity-absorbing sacks on his cheeks, to be exact) so that none of the energy would be wasted as heat or light.

The former trainer felt a sudden surge of energy and power, the painful, acidic feeling fading instantly away as pockets of highly energized electrons energized depleted phosphate groups and eliminated his building oxygen debt. With a speed that nearly set the Astroturf on fire Alvin took off like a shot, moving so fast that he lapped Des twice before the pikachu could know Alvin was gone...

But then the energy began to fade, slowly. With inhuman determination, Alvin slogged ahead, like a cheap child's toy whose battery was winding down. He managed another three circuits of the room before he collapsed in a heap, just making it to the corner parallel to the aquarium.

Until now, all of the other Pokemon had kept mostly to themselves. Though their curious looks had often been targeted for Alvin or Des, none had attempted to interfere with their activities, cause them harm, or interact with them in any way. Until now.

The purplish, gelatinous blob that had more or less oozed about in the small metal-covered area of the room had been beyond identification and without feature, seemingly unaware of its surroundings... then Alvin dashed into its little area shuddered once, and fell on his face, completely oblivious to the fact that he had not entered an uninhabited zone.

The blob stopped moving, turning to face Alvin (or so it seemed. Without an actual face, how could one tell?). At least, it hadn't had a face until then. Small, beady eyes, as well as a thin, wavy mouth took shape. Not so much actual organs, however, as thin indentations in the goo that made up the creature's body. "Hello!" It said in a happy, non-revealing voice. There was not a sufficient difference in pitch for one to tell what gender it was, even with ears as sensitive as Alvin's or Des's. Once again, there would've been nothing to hear. Ditto are a genderless species, so far as anyone can tell. The blob gave Alvin a good few prods, easily pushing his weight aside. But despite all the creatures' best efforts to rouse him, Alvin did not move. He was conscious... but only just. Any more extreme effort, and that would be it. A larger animal didn't have to eat him... at the rate they were going; Des was going to run him insensate long before that.

"Are you ok, little guy?" The creature asked, still unaware of Des, who had moved to stand just behind Alvin. Or, if it had noticed him, it wasn't reacting.

Des wasn't alarmed... if anything, he was amused. Ditto were known to be some of the most playful pokemon around, some of the least hostile when not battling. They didn't really eat the way most Pokemon did (at least, Des didn't think the did, with no real mouth. This wasn't saying he was right), so there wasn't any danger in letting it get close to Alvin. What he didn't expect was for it to transform, right then and there, with no trainer to direct it in doing so.

Within moments, the purplish blob had reformed into a nearly perfect copy of the pichu lying below him (as it was now, being a copy of Alvin). Had it not been for Alvin's scant clothing and his scent, Des might not have been able to tell them apart at all.

The ditto did a double-take, inspecting himself with bright eyes. He had never been a pichu before. The feeling was... interesting. At the very least, he wanted to play! Conveniently enough, there was a compatible playmate, only inches away. Why wasn't he moving? Using an instinctive, angled blast of electricity, the Ditto woke Alvin again, lowering one arm to allow him to clamber up to a similar two-legged stance just beside him. Aside from their clothes, the two were indistinguishable.

This came as a subject of much surprise to Alvin, who had not seen any of what transpired until he was helped to his feet by... himself? He instinctively sniffed the pichu, who sniffed him back. Though the scent itself was identical, it carried none of those other traces that had been left in his fur by a brief stay in David's quarters a day or so ago, nor the human traces David himself had made by rubbing his head just moments before he left. A near perfect copy. Being a trainer had its advantages; he knew of one of the few Pokemon species capable of feats like this: Ditto. There were a few others, but none as common as the purple blob. He did remember seeing something that might have been a ditto out of the corner of his eye on one of his many passes around the room... and his observation would seem to have proved correct.

"Hi! Who are you?" Instead of demanding questions as a human in his place would've no-doubt asked, these words had came out before he even thought to speak them: An instinctive greeting for another member of his species.

Fortunately for Alvin's sanity, his mind had not been copied in addition to his body. When his copy spoke, however, it was the high, pitiful voice he had come to know as his own. (Although to his own ears, his voice now sounded almost identical in pitch and volume to his previous human one. It was the voices of others that now sounded loud and low. "I'm Echo... who are you?"

It was a fair question, and deserving of a fair answer. "My name is Alvin! But shou-"

He was cut short by his copy, however, who raised his nose in an amused sort of way. "Alvin?" His tone was long, drawn out, and surprised. It surprised Alvin just how like humans pokemon could sometimes be. "That sounds like a human name! How did you get it?"

Alvin's cheeks sparked, and he stepped back, subconsciously. Embarrassment before members of your own species (at least Echo was now) was the worst and most intense kind. Before now, he had been given a bit of a break from the intense emotion he had experienced as a human being, with no other pichu around. That, however, could no longer be the case. "It's a human name because... I... I was human." He finished lamely, averting his eyes from that perfect copy of them only a few inches away. Not only was it a slightly disturbing thought, but the amusement in those eyes made his cheeks burn still further. Even human, Alvin had never really been much for concealing emotion.

"You were what?" The voice was more disbelieving than shocked... far more. Alvin knew without any psychokinetic gifts that Echo didn't believe him. He would tell his story, but if the ditto didn't trust to the truth, why should he care?

"I WAS human. Only a little over seven days ago... I got changed by... powerful... rocks." Once again, he was hardly sounding convincing. A shame the truth was often so unable to put up a good word for itself. At least, it wasn't yet. "I'm fifteen years old... older than you and my Pikachu combined, I'm willing to bet... I understand human things... I read!" Well, that was half true. He could almost read most of the time.

Echo wasn't listening. Quite the contrary: More than just not listening, it seemed he was purposefully avoiding the words and concepts Alvin presented. Either that, or he just cared about something else more. If that were the case, there was but one thing that could've held his interest. "Yeah, yeah... sounds cool... want to play?"

The whole issue of Alvin's humanity had been forgotten in moments by Echo, and shortly after by Alvin himself. It was as though someone flicked a switch (or more likely, a pheromone). It became instantly clear to Alvin that, weather or not Echo believed him, he would not think any less of him or treat him any differently. Pokemon were tolerant creatures, particularly when away from the mortal dangers of the wild, with little reservation or restraint towards strange ideas (though this was most likely because, as a group, they could not all be exposed to them in the same way that humans could). Besides, what did it really matter to Echo what Alvin had been before, even if it was true. He had been a Ditto before, but now he wasn't. When you lived life in the moment, it was only your current state, and the current state of others, that mattered.

The goggle-wearing pichu turned to Des with a pleading look on his face that spoke what words were not required. With a single, understanding nod, Des answered, stepping back away. Alvin deserved a break... and besides, Desumo felt like a brief nap under one of those sun-lamps would be evermore relaxing than more training with Alvin. There would be plenty of time for that later...

"I would love to play!" A brief pause while Alvin reared back, grounding himself for an electrical attack. "You're it!" He yelled, dashing off into the fake bushes with a final flick of his tail.

Echo didn't need anyone to tell him the rules of this game. As it always did, transforming into something brought with it all the instinct and ancestral memory buried within a species' DNA. This game, it would seem, was part of that instinct. Echo took off after Alvin, a perfect match for his speed, targeting him with an electrical blast far more accurate than the one that had momentarily stunned him.

For how long Alvin played with Echo, he could not say. Like before, all of it blurred together into one solid mass of wrestling, tag, and tackle-based games, all of which were highly instinctive, and all of which had a hidden purpose. By the time he did stop, it was nearly midday. He was having so much fun, he hardly noticed as his energy began to fail... in the same way it always did. He didn't notice because his double began slowing down at exactly the amount he was... until the two were fast asleep under the shade of a large (fake) oak tree.

Des woke up about twenty minuets later, to a deserted room and much worry... at least for a moment. Within seconds, he had located Alvin's scent, and a few seconds later, he found Alvin, curled up next to Echo in one of the colder areas. For now, he just let him sleep. After all, he was trying to give Alvin a bit of training, this wasn't boot camp (not that he had any idea what a boot camp was, even if Alvin had asked for that. Heck, he didn't even know what a boot was).

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"So... what I heard about pichu using Zap Cannon... it was just a rumor."

Alvin stood on a thin branch that Des had propped against the wall next to the door. They had chose this particular stretch of wall because, unlike the simple painted metal of the rest of the room, this had a large computer panel which mimicked the painted wall until its touch screen was activated. Diodes embedded in the glass turned transparent, exposing what this device truly was: A TM vendor.

Those who designed this particular model had been rather clever, something for which Alvin was now very grateful. Instead of trainers having to insert paper money and manually select which species would take the benefit, all a trainer need to was place the hand, paw, or other appendage of their pokemon into the concealed slot and the device would interface with the check-in computer, and using a scan of the DNA of the pokemon who's appendage was inserted into the machine to connect with a particular trainer's information in the computer, automatically connecting to one's credit account to prevent the need for currency. This meant

Alvin, without as much English as he would've liked was still able to activate the machine and take a lookat was available to him.

According to what he had known about pokemon for several years of training, any pokemon could only be expected to learn and remember four moves, not counting the basic "Tackle" and any other basic abilities they were born with and required no knowledge to operate (in Alvin's case, this was the simple, unrefined blast of electricity that he had been using on and off for the last week). According to the machine, however, he could only learn three more attacks. He didn't know anything specialized... did he? Nothing... no. He could scarcely use electricity as it is, let alone do anything interesting with it.

Alvin had never been one to argue with technology, however. If it said he could only learn three more attacks, he wasn't going to hit the machine, or blast it, or anything like that. These things were always right. For the moment, he would concentrate on picking the perfect attack to learn.

You see, Des had informed him as soon as his nap was over that they would do a few practice battles, and he could use the machine to learn one move that might help him (Des had no trouble understanding the machines: Stick your arm in it, and you know how to fight better). Alvin was determined not to lose (even though there was next to no chance he would stand the slightest chance). He did have one advantage however: Human intellect. Experience he had, when it come to winning at impossible odds. Des had the raw power, but he had speed. In combination with that speed, perhaps he could put up a better fight for himself.

Alvin didn't even glance twice at any of the electric attacks. This wasn't the only time he would have access to a machine like this, and those attacks would be next to useless on Des. This was one move that caught his eye, though it was no larger than any of the others on the screen. Double Team. Des couldn't read, he wouldn't know what Alvin was learning until he used it. If it would distract Des for only a few moments, he would be able to get close enough with enough momentum to do damage.

He didn't think once to the humanity he might be losing (or the dignity, for that matter) by battling with Des. Nor did he want to. For some reason, he WANTED to battle... weather it be with Des or... any old Pokemon. The advantage he had with Des was that as soon as either of them got hurt, even slightly, they could stop. With another Pokemon, it might not be so easy.

Alvin made his decision in a split second, tapping the screen only once. It surface flashed acknowledgment, and he slid down the branch to the ground, moving up close to the machine to stick his, right forepaw once again into the slot. Aside from a slight surge of electricity, he felt nothing... at least for a moment. His mind reeled, his eyes sliding for a moment up into the back of his head, exposing white for the first time in days. Than he recovered, sliding back to his most comfortable stance just inches from Des (and Echo, who was still his copy, and still watching with interest. Echo could not ever use a machine like this... and until just now, had never seen one).

Des flicked his tail to the copy of Alvin once, a silent signal for him to get out of the way. Being new to the pichu instinct to obey most elders unquestioningly (least of all one which had a scent too close to his own for him not to be related. Alvin's DNA had been constructed from bits and pieces of Des's, so they were equally almost more similar in that respect than father and son. Had it not been for this distinct similarity that produced a similar one in their scents and appearances, Alvin would not have been so keen to listen to Des about everything).

"So... this is just a little practice fight... if either of us get hurt, or get to tired, just tell the other you want to stop, ok?" Des set down the rules, sliding likewise into that four legged, crouched stance that was so close to what Alvin was doing.

"Ok." He said simply, though the look in his eyes told the real story. This was more than a bit of practice, of simple training before danger, it was the all-out battle between superior human intellect and Pokemon skill and strength. Alvin was going to fight until he was no longer able. This didn't stop him from smiling, however, not breaking eye contact with Des. There was anger in his eyes, but it was the pent-up fury of what had happened to him a little over a week ago. He could feel the sparks falling from his cheeks onto the sand, and it wasn't out of embarrassment. He wasn't mad at Des, but boy was he going to get it.


	12. An Unusual Conflict

Chapter 12: An Unusual Conflict

A/N: By way of announcement, all chapters from eleven on have actually been looked at by someone who knows what they're doing, so I expect a significant decrease in error from this point onward. Feel free to point out any errors you observe, however. As a matter of fact, I encourage it.

Special thanks to Kazundo's Advocate for editing this chapter.

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For several long moments, the pair remained silent and still, each waiting for the other to move first. All traces of friendship and companionship had been sucked from the room in a heartbeat, leaving it, at least to Alvin, as though someone had just turned down the thermostat several degrees.

This was the calm before the storm; the deceptive, unnerving silence at the edge of battle. Des had experienced it from this perspective many times before, but Alvin had not. Thus, it was the pichu who cracked and moved first.

Alvin's first plan was enacted in precisely the way he had imagined it. First, a small flash of electricity struck the ground mere inches from Des's face, flinging dust and dirt into his eyes. The pikachu's instinctive reaction (which Alvin could predict) was to turn away and shield his eyes, taking his attention, for a split second, off of Alvin, who was able to reach Des, and slam into his side with a headbut as hard as he could muster with such limited weight.

This was the end of his plan, the point when he expected Des to feel the slight pain and stop fighting. From his perspective as a trainer, it seemed like the smallest of factors would make Des stop fighting... he had never been able to even begin to appreciate what kind of pain could be experienced in battle. His blissful ignorance was about to end.

Des hardly flinched, rotating his body with amazing speed, so fast that even Alvin had been unable to react. The pichu had only a brief glimpse of Des's tail glowing in the manner often associated with the "Iron Tail" attack before it slammed into his torso, sending him flying a good several feet, skidding to a stop across the path in the desert sand.

Alvin exhaled sharply, struggling to his feet. He hurt everywhere, hurt so much that moving and breathing were suddenly a labor. Des's attack had certainly knocked the wind out of him, along with much of his resolve to keep fighting. His own words from years ago stopped him, however, echoing through his head like the distant memory they were. The voice was different from that now used by his conscious mind... it was not pichu. "Come on Des... keep fighting... I know you can beat him! Play through the pain!" How could he expect that of his Pokemon and not of himself... it just didn't make sense! Either way, he clearly needed a new tactic in this. He could not simply stand here and think about his previous error with Des returning to finish the battle any second. On that regard at leas, Alvin was not disappointed.

The larger mouse came speeding towards him with velocity Alvin had yet to see in any other pokemon (although he hadn't seen many since his change in perspective). The pichu had only a split second to decide what to do. For any other pokemon, particularly those used to the speed and pressure associated with battles (or with a trainer to yell out their next move), it would've been easily to think up a proper retaliation in time. Alvin, however, had never been exposed to it before, and was hence unprepared. He had scarcely moved an inch by the time Des plowed into him again, this time with an electrical attack powerful enough to cook a luau grumpig.

Until now, Des's electric attacks had been weak, precisely directed to give Alvin that little boost he needed to keep going. This time, Des flooded his body with an amount of energy nearly equivalent to his maximum capacity in a refined but undirected blast. The smell of burning flesh and fur filled his senses, spots of his pale yellow turning to a dull brown with patches of black. Alvin staggered back to his feet for three or four seconds, then collapsed, closing his eyes.

He wasn't tired, wasn't weak... quite the contrary, he felt like he could run a marathon... it just HURT. This would be a minor pain to most trained pokemon, how could he have possibly directed his own to battle with a clear conscience. Just what HAD he put DES through before now?

"D-Des... Stop..." He whispered faintly, ears falling limply against the top of his head. Alvin's eyes were closed, and his nose and ears still stunned from the overload of the attack that had just struck him. To his surprise, it was Echo who came to him first. He didn't sense it with any of the five human senses, but his new awareness of the electrical charges in his surroundings told him there was not enough energy for it to be a pikachu, even after the attack Des had just performed. The voice, almost completely identical to his own, confirmed that.

"Don't give up Alvin!" He didn't make contact, but was close enough for Alvin to feel the heat from his body as well as the electricity. "Just sleep! Rest! You know what to do!"

I know what to... Echo is mad! Sleep? Alvin's mind spun wildly, completely unsure what Echo was getting at... at least for a moment. Then, despite his hampered mind, what remained of his intellect made the connection. Echo wasn't touching him or helping him up because that would end the battle... Echo wasn't telling him to go to sleep, either!

With new determination, Alvin lowered his eyes, focusing his mind completely on obeying the constant stream of instinct and advice flowing to his conscious mind. Echo had the exact same genes and the exact same instinct. If he said to rest, he must know how. That would explain the limit the computer had indicated. Rest wasn't exactly an electric move, but it had been on the list...

Echo stepped back, getting clear as Des approached again. His ears lifted slightly when he saw Alvin's breathing slow considerably and his tail slacken: Either Alvin had fallen asleep, or the move had worked (although in technicality, if the move had worked, he would have fallen asleep).

The pikachu skidded to a stop inches from Alvin, his fate instantly turning from that look of fury and anger it took whenever he was battling to one of extreme concern. In less than a second, their battle was nearly forgotten with his concern for his trainer, as well as considerable guilt in what he had just done. That hadn't been any "training" attack. For a creature not evolved to deal with large quantities of electricity, something like that would've caused heart failure (unless, of course, they were not organic enough to have a heart that could fail). Alvin would be alright, in time, but the pain... by the looks of things, it had been intense enough to overload his senses and make his body go into a defensive resting state. Poor kid. Little did Des know just how wrong he was. Nevertheless, it was because he did not know that he merely sat there, looking down at Alvin with such little concentration that he could not notice those portions of the pichu's burned fur falling off and being replaced with a fresh coat of pale yellow, or the charcoal black skin below changing back to that fresh, babyish white.

He was thoroughly surprised, therefore, when Alvin got slowly to his feet about two minuets later, his body completely whole, and showing no signs of the debilitating shock. "Alvin! You're... you're..."

"Ok?" Des's former trainer seemed so unaffected by his attack that he was now standing on two legs, even smiling up at the Pikachu. "It looks like I am." Alvin's tone was flat, but with a hint of surprise. As though he hadn't quite yet woken up... "I guess so. I don't... quite know... how..."

Echo ran forward suddenly, fighting the temptation to squeeze one of Alvin's paws with force in his frustration. He did manage to fight this, however, instead looking him dead in the eye. "You know... now I think you were telling the truth about being human... you really don't know what you're doing, do you? It looks like you don't even know you own attacks!" Frustration and anger were in his voice now.

"No, I don't know my own attacks! I hardly know how to stand in this body, let alone attack with it!" Well, that wasn't true. Not anymore, at least. The first day Alvin's motions had been jerky and uncoordinated, but by the third, he was walking with no less proficiency than any other pichu. As to his attacks... perhaps he simply could not properly interpret the signs. "And yes, I WAS telling the truth about being human!"

"I thought so..." Echo backed up, glancing once to Des. The pikachu was still in a state of shock at what had just happened, so did nothing to attack Alvin once again. Not yet, anyway. "Why not finish this battle?"

Alvin almost laughed. "Are you joking? I got creamed! You think I want to fight some more? How can I get better if I get whacked..."

"I know you can do it... just keep fighting! How would you feel if you gave up without trying your best?"

This last comment stopped Alvin in his tracks, miles before making another retort. It was a near identical thing to what he would've said only days before had Des been in his place against a stronger pokemon opponent.

On top of that, the prospects of this battle were becoming more and more appealing by the second. His body longed for the challenge, and for the chance to hone his own skills. He didn't want it to be over! He might be able to do it, too! His body knew what to do, even if he did not. There were times when instinct could be of more good than harm...

Des was still looking down at him with that disbelieving expression. Alvin would show him! Suddenly, without knowing what he was doing or why, Alvin fixed his eyes squarely on Des's chest, crouched down, and charged into him. As he ran, he became aware of the electricity building up inside him. Instead of lashing out at random targets, this time it remained close to his body, a glowing wedge of furiously excited photons and electrons. It slammed into Des with a force of energy and momentum no pichu could generate on their own. A volt tackle.

Des was down, and Alvin was on top, raising one paw in triumph. The battle was far from over, but Alvin had actually managed to do some damage. He felt weak... drained... but whole. Even if he lost now, his goal was done. He had knocked down Des. No matter what happened next, it would be a victory in his eyes.

Alvin hadn't been wrong to hypothesize his victory would be short-lived. Des stood with such force Alvin was thrown (although this time, Alvin was ready, and landed in a stance as to directly face Des. There was a new fire in his eyes, mixed with that look of amazed surprise. He had seen Alvin press only one key, ONE! How could he now know Rest as well as Volt Tackle! It didn't make sense. Even more perplexing, Volt Tackle was an ability you had to be born with... he himself could do it, but Alvin...

For anyone with even a small amount of genetics experience, however, things did start to make slightly more sense. If you had to be born with the ability, it meant it was in some way genetic. And if it was genetic... and Alvin's pichu DNA had came from Des, that meant if Des could do the move, it was highly likely Alvin could as well. That didn't explain rest, though. Unless Rest had been the ability Alvin had decided to learn! Whatever his trainer had done... It hurt, and it stung, but it was comparatively minor. He wasn't going to let himself get beat by a pichu! A baby! Sure, Alvin had a few tricks he hadn't seen before. And sure, Alvin knew all of his tricks. That didn't mean they would work any less effectively... at least with someone who didn't know how to properly use the body they had been given.

Alvin had only enough time to meet eyes with Des, to see the livid anger... before Des was upon him, scratching and beating. Alvin recoiled in shock, trying to roll away from the flurry of blows, each one strong enough to knock the wind from him. Des had come so fast, so quick... he didn't have time to make a counter attack! His human mind knew, as one blow built upon another, that it had been quick attack that had been his downfall... but there was nothing he could do to stop it. Wait! Yes there was!

He gritted his teeth together, thinking back to the key he had pressed back at the "Vending Machine". Double team... it might just be enough to get away from Des. There were suddenly a trio of Alvin's, and by chance, Des's next blow fell one of the fabrications. It slid through empty air, and Alvin was back on clear footing, ready to fight again.

Had it not been for Echo, they might've kept going, possibly even to the point of serious injury. Thankfully for Alvin, however, it was at this point the little copy ran between Des and Alvin, shooting up on two legs and raising two hands to block the way in the same way as any human might. Because he was on two legs and the pikachu on four, it looked almost like they were on equal footing. "Stop! You two have had enough practice for now!" Des froze, lowering his tail only an instant before he planned to unleash another flurry of electricity.

What had he done? Alvin might not have been killed, but by the looks of things... a few more rounds, and things might've been different. Alvin's fur was singed again, his eyes glazed, and blood dripped from several stained patches in his fur where Des's most recent barrage of blows had done more than epidermal damage. He looked determined, but at the same time... as though a few limbs might just snap off for their weakness. If anything, he had done all that he had ever asked of his pokemon: Everything. Had Des himself been fighting a battle against a foe as far advanced as himself by comparison... he would've quit some time ago. Even if it was clear that Alvin would have lost in the end, his effort was admirable. From the looks of things, he would've gone on to the bitter end.

Alvin's mind was occupied by very different thoughts, however. He hardly noticed the pain. In his mind, he had failed, and miserably so. I didn't work hard enough... I didn't try as hard as I could've. I might have won if I had... I might've won. His eyes spoke as his thoughts, radiating disappointment and attribution to failure. It wasn't a tie to him. He had lost...

"No, you didn't lose!" Echo spoke as thought he had read his mind. Given what had already happened to Alvin up to that point, that was a possibility he did not discount. More than likely, it was being his exact copy that gave him the ability to read the motions of his body. "Look at yourself Alvin! This was supposed to be practice, not a fight to the death! Even if this was real, Pokemon are never supposed to kill each other in battle!"

"I... I... Alvin!" Des rushed around Echo suddenly, hugging the goggle-wearing pichu beyond his ditto copy with much vigor. So tightly, in fact, that for a moment Alvin had trouble breathing. "I'm so sorry! I took it too far... you could've been hurt!" A lot of good those words did... he was already hurt, and in no small way. If there had been a pokemon center nearby, even Alvin would be lost for objection as to using it. He was in a bad state. Des was burned in the place Alvin's volt tackle had barreled into him, but was otherwise unscathed. "Can you forgive me?"

Alvin smiled, surprised at how comforting it was for Des to hug him. His fear and worry, and that surge of adrenaline his body had been running on since the quick attack drained away, leaving a relaxed a peaceful state (but he was far more aware of the pain he was in and damage that had been done to his body). He wasn't angry at Des, not in the least. How could he be angry with Des... the one who had fought so many battles like these for him, against even greater odds. It wasn't Des's fault. If anything, it was a compliment to Alvin's training that Des had gone on for so long. "How could I not forgive you? You're always so nice to me... battling was my idea, I knew I might get hurt."

Suddenly, and without warning, Echo's small yellow body was gone, instantly replaced by that grey blob several times Alvin's size. He pulled away from Des, moving over to inspect the new creature. While for humans such an act might've been impolite, Pikachu have short attention spans, so doing as Alvin did hardly cut much activity from their curriculum.

He sniffed the ditto several times, a gesture the ditto did not return. Echo no longer had a nose. "Alvin... you look terrible!" His voice was no longer a familiar if disturbing copy of his own, but a squeak that sounded strained and unnatural to his ears. The pichu shivered slightly under his gaze, as though a new predator had suddenly stepped into the room. He could not know, at least, not yet, that he was perfectly safe around ditto, but he did know that Echo had been very kind to him, and had cared deeply for his well being during the battle. This was all that stopped him from fleeing back behind Des for fear.

"And you look like a blob! Why did you turn back?" Alvin realized too late that his words were not kind, and he immediately added. "Not that there is anything wrong with looking like that... but why did you want to change back?"

Echo didn't seem too put off. Apparently this had been the first time he had heard the blob analogy. Even if it was the first time, he didn't seem too offended by it. "You're too small! It becomes... annoying after awhile, it feels bad. As soon as I saw you were safe, I unsquished myself... it was fun, but I wouldn't want to stay that way."

Alvin's nod of understanding turned quickly to a frown. While it was true; What he was saying made complete sense, it was also somewhat ironic. Had he been given the choice, those might be his last few words before changing back into a human being. Sure, being able to stick your paw safely into an electrical outlet was fun... and riding on David's head had been fun... and many other things, but they didn't compensate for all he was losing for not being human. Being a pichu might be enjoyable for short durations, but he would wish permanency on no-one.

"And being a blob feels better?"

"Not squished... I can move around again, and I don't have all those sounds and smells and electrical signals to confuse me. Being this way... seeing and hearing are all I can do. The world seems... peaceful. There is so much when I'm you... and everything is so scary!"

"Don't remind me..." Alvin's cheeks lit up slightly, though there was little energy inside him to make them spark. "There isn't very much in this room. Outside this thing... this water thing, just think about how scary things are! You don't get scared?"

"Not like I do when I'm something else... Ditto are safe from most pokemon. If something wants to get us, we can turn into a rock or bush to be safe... older pokemon don't even try." He said it matter-of-factly, but there was a hint of pride in his voice. He was proud of what he was and how he looked, even if most pokemon couldn't appreciate it.

"Even so... do you think you could... be a pichu again? Just for the next day. You look big that way, and big things are scary!" He poked the ditto lightly with one paw, looking up pleadingly into those dots which were supposed to be eyes.

The watery, pleading face of the young child was all Echo needed for persuasion. In only moments, the other pichu had returned, standing an exact twin beside Alvin. Aside from Alvin's clothes and many injuries, the two were identical.

"Come on: Let's play!" The words had been Des's that time. The battle almost completely forgotten, the three electrical rodents began an activity they could all enjoy, despite that Alvin could not run for long without limping. It had been a hard day... but even as the sun set through the metal overhead, all three of them were happy. A brief and welcome peace after so much of pain.

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The next day passed as a blur for the trainer-turned-pichu. One moment, it seemed he was curling up to sleep beside Des and Echo, the next, David was inside the room, Echo long gone, and his injuries healed. He had exhausted himself more than once, burned hundreds of tiny holes in the ground with many electrical attacks Des directed him to perform, and perfected his use of the volt tackle attack. It had been going so well... and been so enjoyable, Alvin had actually started to cry when David's scent wafted through the doors to the day care.

What was more worrying (or at least, it would've been, had Alvin been slightly more aware of things) was that when David rushed inside at the cries and scooped Alvin up, roughing up his fur and comforting him in a way that would be instinctive and natural when dealing with a saddened pokemon, he did not object. Quite the contrary, he felt relieved enough to stop crying.

"What's wrong Alvin? Why were you crying?" There was no objection in his voice, which spoke of just how little care he gave to the stereotype that males did not cry. Who cared about such things when you were dealing with Pokemon, anyway?

"I was... sad." Alvin said, suddenly avoiding eye contact, instead sharing a glance with Des. It was quite apparent he now felt much more at ease with the mouse than he did with David, though he showed no hint of fear.

David blinked dumbly several times before reacting, his face turning quickly from mild puzzlement to extreme worry and alarm. It suddenly looked as he was about to cry. "Alvin, could you repeat yourself please? I couldn't understand you." His words were suddenly rushed, taking on even a slight angry and fearful quality. He was scared, of that there was no joke.

"I... was... sad?" He repeated, sliding forward onto two legs and shrugging his shoulders in a way quite reminiscent of his human past. His look was blank, expressionless, telling quite clearly that Alvin did not realize what the complications of not being able to be understood by David might be.

David's expression went from bad to worse. He looked once to Des, once to the door, than pulled the glove from his hand, locking eyes with Alvin. "Somethings' wrong, and I'm going to find out what..."

As had happened last time he had made physical contact with David, all light faded before quickly zooming back into his focus. The forest, just like before. Only this time, he wasn't that unnatural hybrid of Pichu and human. This time, he had gone all the way. He was a pichu, though still wearing the goggles and neckerchief.

Alvin waited in silence for several moments, scanning his eyes around for David, who he knew was sure to come. He was right on this note, but wrong in his speculation of how David would arrive. Before, his friend had fuzzed slowly into existence, and in doing so had remained passive and transparent, disconnected from the world. This time, the new arrival quite literally fell from the sky, appearing out of nowhere out of Alvin's line-of-site and falling a few feet to appear directly before him in a cloud of dust.

It wasn't that mostly-invisible, passive human David either, but a pichu version, possessing only a slightly different ruffle atop his head to set him apart in any way from Alvin.

When he spoke, it was in a similarly high and fast tone to Alvin's, but with a fair that identified him unmistakably for David. "Alvin... can you understand me?" There was quite some delay between his words, as though he was speaking for someone who had recently learned the language. Nevertheless, they were in pichu.

"Of course I can understand you, David! Why are we pichu? Why can't you understand me out there?"

"I don't know... my only explination would be that something has happened to change how you were before. You are more of a pokemon now..." He paused for a moment, inspecting his own body. "It does feel strange..." Seeing Alvin puzzled expression, he proceeded to explain: "Your thoughts were in Pokemon, just like your words. I could never understand your words, and without those thoughts, you're just an animal. Remember what a computer is?"

Alvin paused only for a second, and the answer came to him without too much of a delay. "One of those things used to store pokemon, music, words, books, and talk to other people? The machines that use electricity and talk to people? Yeah, I know. Why?"

"Nothing." David lied. Fortunately, he was no worse at keeping his emotions private as a pichu than he was human. To say: "I was checking to make sure you still knew what human things were so I knew you hadn't turned completely into a pokemon" didn't sound very encouraging inside. If he still remembered, he was still human. Nevertheless, David changed the subject at the speed of light. "I'm a pichu because that's what you are. I connected completely with your mind in order to be sure that I could talk to you... this is the way I talk with other pokemon... if I had done this before, I would've been a hybrid, just like you..."

"Oh. I understand. Any news on Mt. Moon, or what's happened, or anything?" Alvin's eyes were suddenly probing, so full of curiosity that David tried to avoid them entirely.

"Nothing big... I read this report on some blog yesterday that rocket activity has been spotted in the area recently... nothing big. Those people never do anything right. Even if they are there, I'm sure they'll be long arrested by the time we get there. This boat is only the beginning..."

That, at least, was true. Just because they got to the port didn't mean they were safe from the storm. They would have to travel quite some miles over land before they ever saw the mountain.

In any case, Alvin was hardly worried about the Rockets. Rockets were always being sighted, and most of the times those sightings were never confirmed. He was sure things would clear up in the time it took them to get there.

"Are you going to put me in a ball on the way there? The whole time?" Alvin asked, a sense of pleading terror in his voice suddenly. That might've worked if David was human, but just now... it was far from super-effective.

"I have to. Just look as what has happened to you already! How long has it been... two days? I don't know what caused this-"

"I think I might!" Alvin cut in, the tone of his voice clearly saying that he hoped that an answer would simplify things for him, and possibly save him from another tour inside the pokeball. "I used a machine to learn the TM "Double Team", and then I used it to battle Des. I think it did something to my brain..."

"YOU DID WHAT?" David's voice was suddenly livid, but he was far from intimidating. If anything, he was a smaller pichu than Alvin. And smaller almost always meant weaker. "Are you kidding me? Do you realize what you could've done? Those machines completely re-write small portions of your brain!"

David's body was beginning to fade suddenly, and violently, causing him to cough and convulse slightly. "Just do as I tell you for now, and answer with a nod or shake of you head..." David was now transparent as he had been before, and his voice weak. He would be gone in seconds. "I'll put you in a pokeball as soon as this ends. When you get out, you'll be at Mt. Moon and we can find a way to change you back." With one final shake, David faded into darkness, leaving Alvin very much alone.


	13. Understanding

Chapter 13: Understanding (Completely re-written)

A/N: Firstly, I must offer my sincerest apologies for my recent disgrace of literature. As you have observed, I've been on a month long leave of absence. Well, that's not entirely true... I've been posting regularly on the blog, as well as a new roleplay forum, which can be accessed via the link on my username. For those of you who don't know, just clicking on the forums link will take you there... or if you like to do it the old-fashioned way, sort pokemon fourms by top poster, and we'll be in the top three. Hu-rah.

I only hope that this newly written, completely redesigned version of chapter thirteen will be in the same range as the rest of my story, and will flow in the same manner. I've been feeling withdrawal symptoms since I stopped writing, and enough is enough. When you're done reading the chapter, please check out the forum. We could sure use some more members. And if you interests lie in transformation of a pokemon nature, I'm sure you will find it to your liking. In any case, it has at last come for new content. You might want to read over the end of chapter twelve real quick, just to see where things left off.

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David remained silent and still for some time, his eyes looking straight through the empty cabin, out the portal, and at the sunset beyond. Alvin had always liked sunsets. He mentioned it David once, during one of their wilderness training treks. The words still rung in David's ears as though only a few moments had passed since Alvin had used them. _'Another day done. And who knows what the morrow will bring. And with another sunset, we'll be that much closer to going home. I wonder what it feels like...'_ David hadn't really understood him, at least not at first. 'But we were just there. And in a few more weeks, we'll be heading back. Why would you want to go back so soon? We've been waiting for this all year!' Alvin's answer had been no more revealing then his first statement. _'No, I'm not homesick. Not yet, anyway. There are still plenty more adventures to be had, and plenty of years left to have them. But someday it will all end. Someday, we'll be too weak to stand to look at the sun, and too confused to understand. What is it to you, the daily falling of our star? Does it make you think of home?'_ Even now, David had no answer to that, nor to the questions he asked himself. The world made no sense: When such a great mind was polluted so that a lesser one could gain from the trial that followed. With every passing moment, Alvin seemed to fall farther and father into that gaping chasm of intellectual poverty and decay, while David was forced to improve himself intellectually, and to figure out more and more, to cope with the diminishing intellectual resources of the group. And now... now he could scarcely understand his best friend. If things followed there current pattern, Alvin would be a normal wild pokemon before the month was out. David could not allow that to happen... it would mean the end of one of humanity's greatest potential minds.

In a way, he felt like the caretaker of, say, an autistic savant. Extreme intellectual gifts, true, but burdened with an attached disability that far outweighed the benefit offered by that single advantage. But unlike those, who's entire lives were and could not be changed from their set and doomed path, Alvin still had hope. If he could get back to his human body, into a brain with more elbow room, David was sure that he would recover most of what was lost, if not all. He only needed to find a way to bring that about. This meant, ironically enough, the fate of the greater man hinged completely upon the intellectual frailties of another. If David could not rescue him now, it didn't matter how smart he was. Alvin would be lost.

David pulled the pokeball containing Alvin from his belt again, tossing its compressed form up and down in his right hand. Not that it served much purpose... but it helped him think. That, right now, was all he needed: Something to aid his concentration. All he needed was something that would help give Alvin a leg up, something to make him that much more human in the mind, and help him stay that way. Was such a think too much to ask? Was their society really so technologically retarded that there was no scientific way to help restore Alvin to his mind? Again, as the subject of more of fate's cruel irony, the one person David knew that might be able to solve his current dilemma was the one who was in a dilemma to be solved.

But all was not lost! David did have one advantage that most lacked: the gift. If Sabrina could use the same gift to manipulate metal, transport physical objects with a thought, and alter memory, he could do the same! It was the truth! He had to believe it! Wanted to believe it...

Sliding Alvin's pokeball back onto his belt, David bent down to his bag for a moment, digging around in one of the outside compartments for his traveling spork. He found it without delay. It wasn't a flimsy plastic utensils either: Solid titanium, with a handle coated in plastic. Few there were that were strong enough to shape such objects with their hands, and David was not among them. From what he had been told, spoon bending was one of the most basic telepathic arts, one that, if he mastered, could be a focus for his other abilities. If he could improve them enough, it might be that he could repair Alvin's mind alone, without technology or fancy machines that might do him harm. They were still an hour away from shore, and his bags were all already packed. What else had he to do that could have as far reaching benefits?

David took the ice cold metal object in his right hand, feeling the texture of the spoon with closed eyes. He committed every last detail of the object to his memory. Scratches in the rubberized grip, the slightly bent surface of one of the prongs, and the eight digit serial number etched into its rear surface were all committed to his mind. He knew, without knowing how he knew it, exactly how to proceed. He had to feel the energy pattern of the object... and to reach out... and touch it with his own, manipulating it in such a way as to reshape and reform it. It was as obvious before him as a burning oil well against the night sky, yet as impossible as threading a needle blindfolded. No matter how hard he tried, he simply couldn't seem to connect with the object's energy field.

For how long he truly sat there, utterly intent on this single goal, he could not say. But when he was done... his body felt covered in sweat, and empty of water, his palms were pale, and the spoon was still straight. He would've wanted to go on... but the intercom's call to disembark had echoed for the third time. Once more, and he might just end up riding along for the return trip as well, assuming the crew didn't catch him during the cleanup first. In either case, he was likely to end up in jail. That didn't sound like a welcoming prospect just now.

Heavy backpack on his shoulders and spork still clutched (although inside his pocket) by one sweaty hand, David strode alone from the ramp onto the shore, one of the very last passengers to disembark. As he left, members of the crew retracted the gate: He had indeed been the last. But it didn't matter. The harsh stares and harsh thoughts from the crew did not bother him.

Though the hour neared that for most of the younger population to be long asleep, the city was alive with activity. On all sides, brightly lit shops and carts displayed their wears, their owners displaying flashy merchandise or calling off reasons while their product was superior to all competing items. It seems the stereotypical port city, alive with thousands of people from all over the world. Even his poor human senses were nearly overcome with the onslaught of sensations. Smells from the cooking of hundreds of different dishes, every one from somewhere else in the world. The yelling of the shopkeepers, constant talking in at least six distinctly different languages, and the thoughts...

Desires, ambissions, all came flooding into his mind, most of which without form or direction. Surges of emotion more than anything else... blasts of uncontrolled feelings that floated through his head, coming and going with a similar frequency and predictability as the ocean breeze.

His steps were shaking, unsteady as he struggled to evict the unwanted thoughts of hundreds of people from his brain. They were too many, too strong for one single, unfocused mind. He had entered into the city with his entire construct of thought focused in the manipulation of a spoon... that would prove to have been a mistake.

David managed to shuffle his way into an unoccupied park bench beside one of the docks before the onslaught of thoughts from all around completely overcame him, and he was unable to move. He shuddered, drooled, fluids spattering onto the ground as the blood of a wounded animal.

For a time it was all he could do to lie there, curled up like a drunk, alone and defenseless beside the crashing waves. As time passed, however, he did start putting things back together. One by one, stray thoughts were filtered out, replaced by his own, calm and intent concentration. It was at this point, near to the instant that he had put the pieces of his mind back together, that he received his greatest fright of the day. He still wasn't properly aware of the world around him, but it was enough. A small, light pressure one one leg, accompanied with a the moderate pressure of some sharp appendages, then the other. Something was standing on him! With a violent start, David stood, throwing whatever was on him sharply onto the ground. There were no lights in this area, and the moon was blocked by cloud. David had only the light from the city to illuminate the ground and creature before him. He could hardly see it, at least at first. Within a few moments, however, the creature provided its own light, casting a violent shower of angry yellow sparks onto the soaked floor, where they promptly sizzled away with little pricks of steam.

He knew that slim yellow body well, those tiny red patches, and the short black tail. It was a pichu! And by the looks of things, not a happy one. After throwing it violently to the ground, could he really blame it for not being pleased with him?

Whatever the case, it took him several seconds to decide what to do. Tom liked the taste of pichu... before his experience with Alvin had began, this would be a time to release his eavee for a treat. Since his caring for Alvin, however, such a thought was now appalling. Instead, he worried for the poor creature's life. What was it doing out here, without a mother? Why was it so close to the water, and how was it still alive? The poor thing looked starved... malnourished. He couldn't simply run, and he couldn't give battle to the creature. By the look of it, one battle was all it had left. Instead, he needed to save it... to somehow protect it. At first he was lost for ideas, but the thought of Alvin at his side kept coming back. He was the one surefire way he had of saving this pichu from its almost certain doom.

David had only a few moments more to think... the pichu looked as though it was going to shock him if he did nothing. In a way, pichu were more dangerous than their older counterparts. They could hold about the same amount of electricity, but had no skill or knowledge to make proper use of it. As such, it was not uncommon for a pichu to use all of its electricity in one unrefined blast, leaving the pichu drained of energy, likely burned, and its victim barbecued. Much in the same way a baby ekans might use all of its venom in a self-defensive bite...

David detached the pokeball in one swift movement, throwing it forward only after depressing the release key. Though this might be the proper time for the stereotypical trainer yell, his mind was still recovering from the overwhelming telepathic incident that began as soon as he disembarked the ship. The lack of such a call did not prevent Alvin from appearing in a flash of vibrant white light, momentarily illuminating their surroundings for a single instant.

"Pichu, pi- pichu pi?" (What are we doing here?) Alvin asked, looking up at David with confused eyes. What were they doing here? He looked around... and his eyes found, without too much delay, another pichu, its scent and appearance obviously female... and obviously angry. This had to be it... David had let him out to talk to it... to negotiate, for whatever reason. The poor creature looked like it was going to fall over and collapse of malnutrition right then and there... that must be why David didn't want to battle it.

"You... why are you fighting for a human? I'm going to blast you!" The female pichu across from him yelled, gritting her teeth. True to her word, the creature let fly an intense blast of electrical energy with Alvin as the target. It migt've hit him, too, but the poor pichu was so weak she could not properly direct the energy. Instead of causing him any harm, the blast sailed harmless off over the ocean, skipping along the surface of the water for a few feet, until it was absorbed by a small swell of salt water. True with David's prediction, the pichu shuddered after this blast, swaying and nearly falling over for intense weakness.

"No!" Alvin protested, darting across the dock to the other pichu, catching her with his forepaws and helping her onto four legs. She didn't have the strength to resist, at least not physically. That didn't stop her for giving him what for, however.

"Get off me!" She protested, trying to shock him again. It didn't do any good... she didn't have enough energy left to shock him proper. Because he too was electrical in nature, he didn't even notice them.

"I can't just leave you here... look at you! You can hardly walk!" The other pichu tried to force him away, but her attempts were weak and uncoordinated, adding weight to Alvin's words. "The human, David... he had food, he'll help you! You can stay with us until you feel better!"

The other pichu didn't know how to reply. The prospect of free food and protection did sound appealing. Mia was no longer fast enough... no longer strong enough to even catch bugs to eat, and climbing into garbage bins had become far more difficult. She didn't want to admit it... but it was true nonetheless. Without their help, she was probably done for. This pokemon was another pichu, even if he did serve a human. If there was anyone in the world he could trust... "Alright. I'll stay with you... but only if you promise not to let the human put me in one of those balls."

Alvin passed the message to David, even though he was perfectly aware that his friend could not understand him. The important thing was that the pichu saw him do it. This was an effort of appearances. "David... She'll come with us if we agree to give her food and not use a Pokeball. Is that ok?"

Like he had predicted, David didn't understand a word. But the tone of questioning... and of inquiry... that had not been lost to him. "Ok, Alvin, Ok. If you want, you can hop onto my shoulder, and I'll carry your friend..." Alvin obliged, and David lifted the weak pichu into the inside pocket of his jacket, as to keep her as close as possible to his body heat. This showed just how much character David really had: Weak or not, the pichu was still a dangerous, particularly when it was positioned over your heart. "All we need to do is find a pokemon center! It should be easy in a city this big..."

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Unfortunately, finding a pokemon center proved much more difficult than David had anticipated. It seemed that wherever he went, those he met either could not understand him, or couldn't be bothered to answer his questions. That wasn't to say he didn't try, or that he stopped trying. No... David would keep looking until his very legs fell out from under him.

He did eventually find one, somewhere near the hour of twelve thirty in the morning the following day. By that time all but the most enthusiastic shoppers had gone home, leaving the streets clear. This particular pokemon center was one of the smaller ones: Sawitched between two large office buildings, He could only hope there was someone still on duty...

Forcing his way through the rotating door, David stepped inside, eyes wide, searching for anyone that might be of help to him. And to his utter bewilderment, nurse joy was still awake, her body half concealed by a seeming wall of filing cabinets as she filed away the last of the night's record.

"Nurse joy!" He called, dashing over to the counter and digging into his pockets with both hands. A few moments later he pulled the starved, sleeping pichu from the cloth any lay her gently on the counter, clear worry on his face.

"Oh dear... what did you do to your poor little pichu? She looks starving!" Nurse joy asked, fixing him with that unbroken, womanly stare, her hands at her hips. "Do you know how to take care of your pokemon?"

"Yes!" David protested, suddenly looking impatient. She was wasting time... time that she could be using to help this poor creature! "She isn't mine! I... I..." He glanced over to the sleeping Alvin mounted on his shoulder, blushing slightly. "my pichu found her by the docks... and he made me take her in. We couldn't let her starve out there! Can you do anything for her?"

The nurse ran one gloved hand down the pichu's neck, checking for a pulse. It was there, but one of the faintest mammalian heartbeats she had ever felt. This pichu was very lucky: If she had not been found when she was, she might never have seen another dawn. "Yes." Nurse joy answered, matter-of-factly. "But I'll need to have her on a drip for the night... you can pick her up in the morning..."

David nodded slowly, turning away from the nurse and stumbling towards the couches and tables on the other side of the room. Now that his business was done... his adrenaline was gone, and he could finally sleep. Alvin had long drifted of... now it was his turn. He didn't even hear nurse joy's reply of "see you in the morning!" By the time she had said it, he was fast asleep in one of the couches, griping Alvin's pichu form tightly in both arms. He didn't stop to check weather his shoes were tied, or weather his gloves were pulled down all the way, he simply gave in to his lack of energy. That would prove to be a mistake... for at sometime during the night, should a patch of fur find a patch of exposed skin... the effects would not be of a particularly desirable nature. True to pattern fate had set for them over the last week or so, that was exactly what happened.

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"Hello... hello... are you alright?" David blinked several times, trying to displace a vibrant bright light from his vision. Despite his best efforts, it refused to yield. It didn't take him long to figure out that the light he was trying to remove was the sun, not the object of some fantasy. But wait? Was it morning already? It felt like he had just lay down! Caring for Alvin must really be taking a toll on him...

David tried to sit up, but found his legs did not respond properly. He flopped around on the ground for a moment, shivering against a sudden breeze that traveled undaunted across his body. _Wait a moment! Where are my clothes?_ David's eyes shot open. What he saw... disturbed him greatly.

Gone were his bare pink skin, unusual clothing, and thick boots, along with his bag. At first, he suspected someone had robbed him blind and thrown him out into the street... but then he saw the pale yellow fur, the clawed paws, and the pichu, standing on four legs and looking down at him. "Where... where are we?" David asked. As soon as the words were out of his mouth, he wanted them back, forepaws flying to cover his mouth. Where was his? Instead of that practiced, cool, human tone, this hyper-energetic and sickeningly cute pokemon drawl... could this day get any worse? The other pichu answered that question... it wasn't quite the answer David was looking for.

"No idea! I just woke up... and there you are!" The other answered, cheerfully enough, helping David to his feet. David tried not to notice, but such was becoming harder with every passing moment. The pichu was beginning to look and sound very familiar. "I was with a human before, have you seen one? He was a friend, and I don't want to lose him! I need his help with... something. Can't remember what, though."

David fell over again, groaning. No... it couldn't be. This was impossible... impossible. He must be dreaming. Nevertheless, the pain he felt when his body met the ground was very real. Wasn't it supposed to be impossible to feel pain while in a dream? If it wasn't a dream... he had to accept the possibility, however slim it was, that this was no dream. "I might know 'im. Do you know his name?"

"It's... It's..." The other pichu struggled for a time, assisting David once again to his feet. "David! David, yeah, that's the one! He was my best friend, until... I don't remember... but then he was my trainer! Do you know where he is?"

Despite the shock the words of this other pichu had produced, David had managed to keep his feet. His mind was adapting to the body, rearranging and rewiring in order to take maximum advantage of all available circuitry. Coordination was one of the first things to improve. "I do. Alvin, what are we doing here? What is the last thing you remember?"

Alvin chewed on that a time, looking up into the sky with a probing and thickly concentrating expression. "I remember going to sleep on David's shoulder while we were looking for a pokemon center... and then I woke up here! How do you know my name?"

Only silence answered. David was too busy examining their surroundings to reply, to entranced by what was built up around them on all sides. A great forest, with trees so gigantic they seemed to reach endlessly up into the sky, higher, even, then the tallest skyscrapers. _But no..._ He remembered. _If I'm a pichu, these are normal sized trees... no wonder Alvin is so scared all the time._ Indeed, to exist at this scale, when every object seemed so much larger then yourself, so hostile, so dangerous... Even now, David could feel the fear seeping into his consciousness, like a wraith, flitting over everything, causing his insides to twist with every new sight. _Is that a predator? Can that eat me? What... what's happening to me?_

"How can you know my name?" Alvin asked again, looking David up and down once more, and startling him out of his introspective self-evaluations and back into the waking realm of reality. "I've never smelled you before!" How could a pichu he had never met know his name... it didn't make sense! Had he even met another pichu before? Not that he could remember... it just _didn't make sense_!

"Alvin, I... I... I'm David." He answered slowly, looking over regretfully at his friend. His statement was full of remorse, but there was no denying he did feel some sense of satisfaction and joy to be able to actually look eye to eye with his best friend, something he had been unable to do for at least a week, now. "I don't know how or why, but I think I'm a pichu..."

Alvin's face did not fall, and he did not get suddenly depressed, as he should. Quite the contrary, it looked as though he was suddenly thrilled. "You look like a pichu to me!" Alvin sniffed him again, just to be sure. "Yep! You're a pichu, alright. Let's play!" His cheeks suddenly lit up, but David raised a hand... or paw... indicating to him to stop. This Alvin did, somewhat confused. "What's wrong? What is it, David? Do you not like being a pichu?"

David closed his eyes, trying to hide a sudden wave a tears from his friend. What was this? He had never cried in front of anyone he had known before! Men didn't cry! "It's not that..." He answered, sniffling. If it weren't for his current situation, he might enjoy exploring the abilities of this new body, of electricity... but now was not the time. He still had to save Alvin from being a pichu... how could he do that when he was one himself? "I need to save you from turning into one of us... one of them! You're human, Alvin, and so am I! Your losing your mind... you've lost your mind... and now that I'm a pichu too, I am doomed to suffer the same fate! How could this happen?!" Spluttering loudly, his the ground with some force, splintering a small rock that lay upon it with the force of his blow. But then the pain of such an act came back, and he was powerless to do anything buy lie there, cradling his arm and crying, both for physical pain and the emotional pain welling up from deep within his soul... and told him he was doomed.


	14. Dominus Providebit

Chapter 14: Dominus providebit (Re-done)

A/N: Yep... I've been quite busy these last few days, but I want to stay on-time will this and all future updates... which means I'll be posting them on a weekly basis. I hope you're getting this on time... and I hope you take the time to read it. As with the last chapter, this one has been completely remade, with completely unique events and a chain of happenings not connected with the original dissertation. Please, please, PLEASE review this chapter when you are done, either as Anon, or on the blog. Reviews are what keep me going... and I am certainly motivated much more highly to put out more content when I get more reviews. Still, if you reviewed the first time, I could hardly ask for more. Just make sure you review on fifteen, when it comes.

Before I stat, however, I have to drop in a plug for the Pokemorph and transformation forum that I started a few weeks ago. We're currently #2 for posts in the pokemon category, but we could get to number one if only a few more of you readers joined up with us. For those of you who don't know, the forums are my primary source for the testing of new ideas. People that keep up to date there will know what the third fic in this universe will be about (yes, there are three. But you should already know that, shouldn't you?). Please feel welcome to come along in, create a character, and either join an existing roleplay or create one of your own.

That's enough of non-story content for one chapter. I'm sorry for the length on this... after fifteen, we should cut back to the usual paragraph of pre-story chatter. Don't worry; I'll make sure there are at least four thousand words of pure story, as always. Wish me luck.

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Four hours David had spent in this body... four long, dismal hours. He had counted every moment, marked every second. It wasn't that their surroundings and situation and been particularly glum... far from it. Had it not been for there being no foreseeable exit to this travesty of joy, David might have even enjoyed the experience. Unlike Alvin, however, David would not allow that to happen. He had a plan, had one in mind since the experience begun. He would not allow himself a moment of joy, a moment of glee, nothing to give the impression to his own mind that there was a single virtue to this condition. That way, his human intellect would force all of these new instincts and new impressions to the side, out of his awareness, for as long as possible. Humans did not at all enjoy such feelings... hopefully that would be enough to keep his mind as pure as possible for as long as possible. He wasn't sure if it was working, but he would hold to it until the last possible moment... until he was human again.

"Do I have to eat _that_? It looks days old!" David's voice was heavily laden with scorn and objection, so much so that Alvin's face fell a good few degrees of happiness when he heard the protest. Even so, it wasn't as though objection was not properly justified. This _thing_ Alvin had found with his nose for them to eat looked far from appetizing from a human point of view. David could not discern weather it was animal or plant matter, let alone what it had been. The mass of bundled tissue was clearly rotting, and covered with flies, ants, and all manner of other assorted unpleasantries. Even so, it smelled_ wonderful_, greater even than the sweetest ambrosia of the gods. Better than any truffle, any fine French cheese, and much better than the dehydrated travel rations he had been eating for the last few weeks.

"It is... but taste it! It tastes as good as it smells!" Alvin answered in defense of the food he had found, lowering his head just long enough to take several quick bites of the flesh (or whatever else it might be).

The other pichu tried not to look at what his friend was eating, but found his eyes inescapably drawn to the rotting remains. Alvin took several large bites, not bothering to scratch from it the insects. Then he chewed, loudly, and not troubling to close his mouth as he did so. For some reason, the sensual assault, which would've sickbed him only hours before, instead enhanced his already quite prevalent and unignorable sense of emptiness. His insides felt like a void, and there was the solution, only inches away from him. Even for someone as disciplined mentally as David was, the food was hard to ignore for long. _Alvin better be right about the taste of this stuff... if it tastes anything like it looks, it'll kill me..._

Closing his eyes to avoid the unpleasant sight before him, David lowered his head ever-so-slowly, opening his mouth and allowing his few sharp teeth to scrape an amount so small it could not be measured onto his tongue. His eyes shot open, and he could not maintain the frown any longer. Alvin had been right; it did taste as good as it smelled! True, David was no more privy to just what it was he was eating that he had been moments earlier, but that paled in comparison with the taste! He hadn't had anything like that for years... if this was what eating was like; perhaps being a pichu wasn't so bad after all? _NO!_ His humanity protested, causing him to open his eyes and pull away from the flesh before him. _I cannot consider such things! I can't let such small a detail as the taste of food effect what I must truly consider: my humanity. No food can be worth the cost I have paid... none at all! I cannot allow such fallacious goals to effect me! _David's frown returned, and he met eyes with Alvin once more. "It's alright, but I'm not hungry anymore. Let's do something else." His tone was flat, monotone... or as much as he could make it. He would not admit that he had achieved any joy, nor any satisfaction from the food... or that Alvin had been right about the flavor. Such did not fit with the Warped image he had of reality, and that would not serve. His Humanity was the most important goal here, the preservation of his essence. All other directional considerations, including politeness, were secondary. He could worry about being nice to Alvin when his body was capable of sustaining an upright stance again.

"What do you want to do?" Alvin asked, ducking down to bite off a few more sizable portions of the food. Then, when he was done. "Your scent is a clear indication of the hunger you must be feeling at this very moment. If it not be food that you wish, what?"

David froze in mid-thought, looking at Alvin with a mixture of shock and bewilderment. An irony, it was, to be so surprised when Alvin made use of his usual speech patterns. It did, unfortunately, show just how far the poor individual had degraded over the last week or so. "I... I d-don't kn-know..." David spluttered, his cheeks flushing with sparks. He hardly knew what to say at all... it was as though, for reasons complexly perdu to him, much of his friend's intelligence had returned... or at least, his ability to facilitate auditory communication had. "I guess I just don't feel like food right now... why don't we look around some more... maybe we'll find a working transformation device. Something must've turned me into a pichu, and it could still be close."

Alvin's reaction had been completely beyond his ability for prediction. "But you are not trapped in a pichu body, as I am. You continue to be, as you always have been, human."

_What?_ David didn't have the foggiest idea what Alvin meant by that. For the faintest moment, it seemed just like old times. Alvin had been fond of those cryptic, unrevealing statements before. Perhaps not cryptic... but with an understanding beyond what David himself had, so that whatever his friend said went soaring over his head. That had been the case just now, so that it took David some time to have even the foggiest clue what his friend might mean. "But look at me: I still have fur! I'm standing on four paws... do you know many humans like that?"

The other pichu exhaled, sounding almost exasperated. As though he couldn't be bothered to explain such a simple thing as his last statement. "You're a pichu because I am, don't you remember?"

Did he? At first there was nothing, but then it came, in a flash of inspiration and sudden ecstasy. Yes, he did remember! The first time he had explained a telepathic connection to Alvin, he had said something very similar to what Alvin just mentioned. Alvin was telling him that they were telepathically connected! And of course, if that were the case, and he had done so without premeditation and displine, his own mind would be altered slightly to conform to the version of reality held by the mind it was entering. That would go a long way to explain the electricity...

"But how? More importantly, how can you possibly have any idea what is going on? Not to be rude, but you haven't had everything together in your mind lately..." David shouldn't have asked. He should've just been satisfied to know that Alvin had regained some of his previous intelligence... but that wasn't enough for him. He had to know exactly what had transpired to enable the sudden return to awareness Alvin had suddenly experienced. As David was about to learn, some questions are best left unanswered.

Alvin smiled toothily at him. "Until we made contact, you were right... I was experiencing significant disruption..." He trailed off, muttering something about the lack of restriction in language in mental pichu when compared to the spoken one, before resuming. That sounded like Alvin, all right. "But the addition of your mental resources cured me of that. Access to your mind was all I needed to put some of my brain back in order with minimal disruption to my personality. I hope you don't mind... I had to use a little of the free space in your brain to store a bit of the more troublesome instinct. Don't worry, I can take it back in a few days..."

David was so surprised he nearly lost his balance and fell over again. Alvin had used _his_ head to repair, to some extent, his own mind? And on top of that... he had found some way to manipulate _him_? That hardly made sense... Alvin didn't have the gift, how could he? The answer was obvious: He didn't need it. David had taken the trouble of doing the one thing Alvin could not do himself: Connect them. It was like storing portable programs on a flash drive, and taking them from computer to computer... when you used one, it took control of the computing resources of whatever machine to which it was connected. It was no consolation, however, to know your own brain was being used as a slave processor without even knowing it. It was even worse, perhaps, to be told where all this instinct was coming from, and that it would linger for a few days. Still, he had, many days past, given Alvin his word that he would do anything in his power to aid in his return to humanity. In a sense, that statement had been an authorization for the action Alvin had taken to help put his mind back in order. The pichu seemed to sense David was uneasy, however, so when he next answered, it was with a tone that was not absent of guilt.

"I'm sorry, David, I should've told you... I should've asked. What's done is done, I'm afraid. I might be able to put everything back, but if I did, the repairs to my own mind could not remain for more than a few hours. If that is what you wish, I will do so." Alvin hung his head, suddenly avoiding eye contact with David.

"No, don't do that... you don't need to. You say you can put everything back in a few days... I can wait until then. You say tha-" This statement was interrupted, however, by a sudden, bone crushing hug from Alvin, forcing the air from David's lungs. "Alvin... what are you doing?" David asked, trying to force Alvin off of him. He could not, however. For reasons beyond his reasoning to discern, strength was failing him by the moment, and the darkness was growing around him, obscuring all. He was only aware of his surroundings for long enough to hear a whisper of final thanks from his best friend before all sensation failed him, and he thought no more.

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It seemed only moments to Alvin: One moment, he was standing with David among the forest that was his own mentality, the next he was sitting up slowly from his lap, awakened by the first glow of sunlight cast upon his eyes by the opening to the street provided by the pokemon center's front window of a wall. It took great reservation to not rouse David immediately with aid of his electrical abilities, and to inquire about the pichu they had discovered the previous night. David had done him a great service, and was doing so with every passing moment. He deserved a few hours more of sleep, at least.

Assuming there would soon be another pichu joining their party, and Alvin did indeed have a portion of his mental capacity returned (which was not in doubt, considering his ability to consider that very possibility), he wanted to know was much as possible about himself, and more specifically, how his body would react to the presence of someone who did not share his gender. With the return of his capacity for visualizing the consequences of his actions, there also returned his greatest fear when this body had taken him: the desire to mate. It seemed an impossible thing at first: He had known long before now that pichu could not produce offspring. After all, they were the offspring. To put it most simply, nature would not take such a path in the evolution of any species. If a creature was not ready to take proper responsibility for its offspring, it wasn't ready to have any. Even so, without the presence of a female member of his species, he had not been able to verify that the lack of possibility for reproduction meant there would also be a lack of those desires. If he was going to be exposed to one, he wanted to be ready... and what better a way to do that than to ask Des, the one he knew that would know how to properly answer the question.

It was a subject of more than a little difficulty in removing the pokeball containing Des from David's belt. The neodymium magnet holding it there was scarcely a centimeter square in area, yet it seemed to exert a restrictive pull of several hundred pounds... or perhaps it just seemed that way to Alvin, being only a foot in height and far restricted in manipulative capacity. Either way, it took the very best of his effort to force the spiracle object from the magnetic containment that held it bound, and even more coordination to stop himself from waking David in the process. Eventually though, he did find a way, squeezing his body into the gap between one of David's dangling arms and the back of the couch, and pushing with his lower paws against the back of the bench. With one almighty lurch, Alvin soared through the air away from David, the pokeball held closely to his chest by his forepaws, and he landed on another sofa/bench across the way, sliding along for a moment before his inertia died and he coasted to a stop.

A moment later Alvin had moved to a point beside the pokeball, so that he could press the activation key with one small "finger". With a click, the pokeball jerked back into the open position, and in a flash of blinding white light, Des appeared of the couch beside Alvin, smiling just as he had when he entered the pokeball one day hence. That smile quickly turned to a look of mind surprise when he examined their surroundings. He had expected to awaken to some wilderness setting, hopefully the mountain that was the subject of his former trainer's desire... a deserted pokemon center, and at the wee hours of the morning, had not exactly been the first thing he expected... let alone to be awakened by Alvin himself, who, to his knowledge, didn't still know how to use a pokeball. "Alvin... what are we doing up so early? Why are we still in human territory... weren't we going to Mt. Moon?"

Alvin was moderately disappointed his friend had not thought it proper to at least exchange a few mild pleasantries before asking the questions he knew were on their way, but he was prepared to provide the answers regardless, albeit with a somewhat let-down expression when compared to the moment before he had released his friend. "I need to ask you some questions, Des, some questions about being a pichu. You still remember, don't you?" His tone was almost pleading. If Des didn't know, he would have to face his female counterpart without preparation... and anything done without preparation was doomed to fail.

Some of Des's surprise disappeared... but not all. He was still curious as to why Alvin found such sudden interested in that subject. Hadn't he been one for weeks already. "Yes... those were some of the happiest times of my life, I could never forget! Just what is it that you want me to tell you about? If I can help, you know that I will..." Des sat back, leaning against his own pokeball, looking over at Alvin. The pichu did the same, though he used the rear of the seat for support rather than a stainless steel sphere.

Alvin answered at once, and his cheeks sparked as he did so: The mere mention of such affairs clearly made him uncomfortable. "Last night, David let me out to help capture a pichu we found on the docks..." He paused momentarily, thinking back to the best memory of it he had. He could not remember what David was doing so close to the docks in the first place... he would have to ask, just as soon as his human friend woke up. "She didn't look like she had eaten in a long time... which was why we had to come here... and no..." He had tried to use the word "proper", but there seemed to be no cogitate "good parent would let their child starve. This could only mean that she doesn't have any... and if she doesn't have anyone to take care of her, we can't let her out into the city again as soon as she is healed... you know as well as I do that a pichu couldn't live on their own." He closed his eyes momentarily, thinking back again, trying his very best to remember the creature they had discovered with complete exactness. "So she will have to come with us, at least until she evolves, she did look pretty close. Either way, I'm sure David won't mind. What I'm worried about..." His cheeks sparked again, a sparking he quickly concealed by aid of his forepaws. "When you were a pichu, do you remember... what did girl pichu look like? Being close to them... did it feel... different?"

The look of surprise returned to Des's face. Alvin knew about mating? Pichu never knew about that! At least, not the way he described. In the wild, pichu of the opposite sex that were raised together would often form the bonds that would later lead to proper mates later in life, but the feelings were nothing compared to the intense desire they would feel when they evolved. At most, it was similar to the way young humans behaved (though this was something Des knew nothing about): At ages as early as eight, young humans began forming relationships with the other gender, and under the same name as those forged slightly later in life, though they still lacked all of the hormones necessary for the concrete desire to procreate, nor the biology to do so. They began their association with the other gender at that time, and in the fundamentals for a formal mating relationship. Perhaps it was the same with pichu... "Back then... I wasn't really around other pichu after you found me... but before then, when I lived with my own colony..." For a fraction of a second, it seemed that even Des's cheeks were lighting at this topic of discussion, but that impression quickly faded. Perhaps Alvin had imagined it... or, much more likely, the much older individual was simply far more adept when it came to controlling his inane electrical tendencies. "It was different. I was with the other pichu in the colony all the time. The female pichu... I remember more than a few that I 'liked'. They were very cute..." He still thought them cute, but it was now in a much more parental way than it had been a few years past. "Spunky, too... very fast. We used to run circles around the pikachu that tried to make us stop playing and go to sleep when the light ran out..." For a moment, he closed his eyes too, thinking back to such favorable memories. "But in answering your question, neither of us felt... the same things that pikachu and younger Raichu do... we just enjoyed each other's company. Think back to your human childhood... I'm sure you were like that with females when you were young... weren't you?"

Alvin had to think hard before responding. His childhood was not so easy to remember anymore... but what he could remember did serve to illustrate just what Des was attempting to convey. He had 'liked' a few girls, but it wasn't the same type of feeling he felt now... or rather, he had felt before being transfigured into this young rodent body. It was more of a playful appreciation... and that he liked the way their shampoo smelled. If it would be something similar with this other pichu, surely it wouldn't be beyond his ability to handle. He would proceed with that hope in mind. And along that line... perhaps the exposure to another of his species would give him something to think about other than the condition itself. She had seen highly opposed to the idea of pokemon-human association when they had met briefly the previous day... perhaps he could make it a goal to convince her otherwise... in addition to his more pressing objectives. "Yeah, I guess I did. I did play with them back then, but I never really realized that they were much different than I. Back then, I guess they weren't... either way, this means that we can take her along without... without..." He couldn't even bring himself to verbalize his worries. In human company, this would be perfectly fine. With humans, the hint, and in the context they were already, would be sufficient to convey the meaning. Such was not the case with pikachu, however. Animals and subtlety did not go well together.

"Without what, Alvin?" Des asked curiously, tilting his head to one side. "What don't you have to worry about if we take her along?"

The pichu hesitated to answer. His cheeks were sparking again. "You know... the same thing that would happen if we found a female pikachu... you know..." Regardless of his friend's relative innocence, he refused to state such great a fear verbally. That would be only be adding the energy from his thought to it, and would help to turn it from speculation into reality.

Fortunately enough for Alvin's imaginative present, being raised by humans had indeed exerted its effect on Des. His second hint had been just blunt enough for the pikachu to make sense of. "Make more pichu?" He stated simply, and without any visible embarrassment this time. Procreation was such a simple, necessary, and routine part of life, why should it bring any discomposure? "Why would you not want to do that? I've always wanted to do that, ever since I evolved! I don't see why you would want to not get near a female if it meant you might try."

If there had been any doubt before, the sparks from Alvin's cheeks had now reached an unignorable intensity and frequency. Des might not have trouble speaking of such things, but to human beings, they were taboo without doubt. Thinking about the implications of such actions... made his stomach tie itself in knots. "I'll explain it later, ok? It has to do with being human, and human rules..." His eyes probed what surrounded them, searching for something, anything he might use to return to more comfortable ground, anything that might sageway their discussion onto familiar footing again. He didn't have to look far to find it: Nurse joy had just returned. "Come on, Des, let's wake up David and see how the pichu is doing."

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A/N: That's it! Tune in next week for your next chapter... and remember, the more reviews I get, and the sooner I get them, the sooner I get writing the next chapter. I'm sorry about the inconvenience and discontinuity I created when I deleted two chapters and started anew, but I'm sure you can agree it had to be done. Once you're done reviewing anon, why not drop by the forum... we could really use a few more active members. You know how to find the link.


	15. Deductive Diversion

Chapter 15: Deductive Diversion

A/N: I doubt I have to explain why this chapter was so delayed... but I will anyway. Reviews! It took so long to reach two that I've completely given up on three... I don't know what any of you think of the story these days, and I would really like to. Please, if you can, review this chapter. I would love to write sixteen sooner than three weeks from now, which is what I will wait when I don't receive three reviews. Those of you who write here will know how hard and time consuming it is (Which is probably most of you, if not all), and I tell you now that the reviews are what keep me going. Without them, I could never write this... they're what make this worth my time.

If you haven't already, give our forum a stop-by. We could always use new blood, though membership has improved over recent days. Nevertheless, we are yet to reach number one. Only four hundred posts to go! Ok... enough of that. The story awaits.

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"Perhaps you should do, it, Des. I haven't mastered electricity yet, and I might hurt him."

"Why can't we just lick him or something? Why electricity?"

Alvin answered matter-of-factly. "When I wake up on my own, I'm groggy and it takes me some time to be ready for the day. When you do it with electricity, I feel full of energy right away!"

The two yellow rodents were now standing on opposite sides of David; Alvin on the armrest and Des atop the backpack. Alvin, as might be expected, was standing on two legs as to add to his height, despite Des's much more regular, quadrupedial stance. As anyone who understood pichu would've been able to hear, Alvin had just been explaining his plan for the day in reverse order, concluding eventually with the simple directive to wake up David in as efficient a means possible.

The flaw in the logic of his last statement, would've been plain to any even moderately intelligent human observer, but passed over Des completely, without the slightest hint of ever registering. Inductive reasoning was all well and good when applied to situations like the classic "The sun rose today, so it'll come up tomorrow", but tended to fail in the details of new situations, particularly in the scenario now. "I get energized when Des shocks me, so if Des shocks David, it should give him energy." Wasn't a particularly strong piece of logic, particularly considering the species difference. As much as his intelligence had recovered, he hadn't quite shaken the effect his past situation had had on his mind, and this was one example.

But as it was, Des was no more privy to these flaws than Alvin, and the command was followed without so much as a moment's delay. The pikachu used a precisely measured dose of electricity, the exact amount he might use to wake a sleeping Alvin. Had there been anyone watching them at the time (there wasn't), all they would've seen would be a thin bolt of energy cut through the air, far to feeble to make so much as a crackle in the nearby air.

David, however, did not seem to think so. Alvin had been right about one thing: He was indeed up in moments, fully awake. Unlike the pichu's plant, however, it was not because the electricity had been added to his stores that he felt energized (obviously; David had no such stores), rather, the sudden burst of energy to the point just below the termination of the brain stem created a temporary excitement in the nervous system, and did just enough damage to his flesh as to release a sudden surge of adrenaline in a fight-or-flight response, waking the poor trainer instantly.

David jerked to his feet, eyes wide, and mouth aghast. The look of intense surprise and fear was quickly replaced by an equally potent expression of anger and annoyance. "Who's there?!" He demanded of the room, spinning around madly in search of the individual who had just brought such a rude an unpleasant end to what had been a most peculiar dream. At first, he did not see Alvin and Des... but when he had fully examined the room at head level, he instinctively lowered his eyes and found the two standing there. "Alvin..." He sighed, his face relaxing somewhat. "It's just you guys..." He muttered, slumping back onto the couch and extending one gloved hand to idly stroke Alvin's fur. "Why the electricity? Couldn't you just wait until I woke up, or if you had to get me up at a particular time, just use your hands... er... paws?"

Alvin's cheeks sparked a bit at this, and the pichu suddenly avoided David's eyes. He hadn't realized it would bother David so much. He hadn't meant to scare him, just get him up so they could start their day. "I'm sorry David... I just though... it always helps me in the mornings, I was sure it would help you to. I promise not to do it again..."

"See that you don't." David replied, taking his hand from Alvin and standing again, much slower than before. He could still feel a little patch of skin on his neck throbbing with the electrical force of Alvin's wake up call, but at least the rest of his body had settled down again. That had not been a comfortable experience, by any means. Still, as the electrically induced pain slowly faded from his senses, a more natural unpleasantness moved in to replace it: Hunger. "Can I get you two anything to eat?" If he was hungry, these two rodents, with a far faster metabolism, must've been in far more agony than he.

Alvin nodded, as did Des. Both were indeed quite as much hungry as David, and Alvin had mentioned getting some food before they set off. "A few apples would be nice, for me and Des, if you can find any." Alvin's speech was far better than it had been a few days before, but David was not oblivious to the occasional error in grammar or pronunciation made by the poor creature, such as the one he had just made. Alvin rubbed his belly, looking somewhat pained. "If this is what it feels like to skip dinner, I wonder what that poor pichu we found yesterday must've felt!"

David shrugged, pausing only long enough to mutter "I'll be right back, with food and another of your kind. Keep an eye on my bag..." before stepping off towards the other half of the room, pointedly avoiding eye contact with either of the mice.

Alvin waited until David was gone before he said anything, sliding along the slick leather that made up the couch, at least until he had slid from the footrest and onto the seat. He quickly stood up again, though it was with a hint of electrical activity in his cheeks. He looked around, trying to think of what to say, or some productive question to ask Des, something he had forgotten, anything to break the sudden silence. The world was so clear, so crisp, the colors so vibrant... Alvin felt better today than he had in weeks, perhaps months, despite being a pichu.

At least, for a moment. Then, as it had back when his mind was more stable, the worry began to return, and with it, the fear. What were his parents doing? Had they given up on him? Did any of his friends other than David even remember him? What had his teachers thought? What would happen to his grades after being gone for so long? Would he have to repeat the year? What about aging... would he return to humanity after all this as some thirty-year-old, or worse? How much of a dip had his intelligence quotient taken?

There were so many things to cause him concern, as so little to bring comfort. For a few seconds, it seemed hard to force so much as a single positive thought into his mind. This state of misery and introspective woe, however potent it was, was short-lived. Just as he had when Alvin had first been changed, and when he was attacked in the wild, Des stepped up as a source of relief to the otherwise forsaken creature.

Des, who had been standing atop the backpack only moment before, had moved up to Alvin and began to groom him with his tongue. Just as he had a few weeks before, Alvin struggled at first, and tried to squirm out of the way, but the pikachu's grip only tightened, forcing the pichu first onto all fours and than onto his belly with so much force as to leave him powerless to resist. Within seconds, Alvin had no desire to do so. The moisture was so refreshing, and it felt good to air out his fur. Besides, it couldn't help to look a bit better when he met that new pichu. Des seemed to be thinking along the same lines, for the first thing he said was. "Hold still, Alvin. We can't have you looking bad when you meet this pichu you told me about... she might make a mate for you someday!"

Alvin shuddered as soon as he heard that, yelling immediately in protest... though he was on his belly at the time, and the fabric of the couch muffled his cry of protest. "No! I just wanted to save her from getting eaten or something, I didn't rescue her because I thought I would need a mate!"

Des didn't not answer at first, instead flipping Alvin over and getting to work cleaning his front side, pausing only long enough when he had done so to issue a response. "Really? I know pichu don't mate, but don't you want to think about your future?"

"Yes!" Alvin answered without so much as a nanosecond of delay. "A human future, with a human mate, and human learning, and a human bo-" Alvin suddenly stopped talking, and started giggling uncontrollably, shivering with the force of it. Des pulled back in utter bewilderment, and instantly the laughing stopped. It didn't take much to guess what had been going on: The poor mouse was ticklish, and even Des had noticed it. Alvin just shook his head once, looking up into the pikachu's eyes with a silent plea. A smile wide as anything spread suddenly across Des's face. The pichu shook his head in a last ditch effort to prevent what his pikachu would do next... but his plea went unanswered. Des had found his trainer's weakness, something he might use to help remove all that negative emotion and fear that had filled his former trainer's scent, and he fully intended to use it.

By the time David returned, Des still hadn't finished grooming Alvin. The two were still rolling around on the couch, Alvin struggling desperately to escape the pikachu's clutches, or to do anything at all other than giggle hysterically. It was the scent of apples that startled Des from his assault long enough for Alvin to leap away. David stopped feet from them, a little paper bag in one hand and a half-eaten apple in the other. He was eating the thing as he walked, cherishing each bite, each chew, like he might fine French cuisine. He stopped eating only long enough to express his wonderment at the suddenly amazing flavor of the fruit before he tipped the contents of the bag onto the couch between Des and Alvin and walk away to retrieve more fruit.

Between Alvin and Des now sat five or six plump red apples, though neither of them moved to approach it. Where David had been standing moments before, was another creature, much smaller, and with a distinctly more yellow coloration. The female pichu Alvin had helped rescue the day before was standing on all fours upon the ground, looking up at Des and Alvin with an expression of obvious fear. Her body looked much as it had the previous night, starved, painfully thin, weak. Had it not been for her fur, Alvin guessed he might've been able to see bones through thin brittle skin. Suddenly, the pichu glanced to the side, her eyes moving quickly to the door. She leaned back, as though about to run... but did not make any move further. She would've, mind you, had Alvin not jumped down from the couch, soaring through the air to land only a few inches from her, and directly in her path.

"Hi!" He said enthusiastically, trying to look serious. Alas, the wide grin from his momentarily torture via ticklishness remained despite all his best efforts to extricate it. "What's you name? I'm Alvin..."

The female pichu moved back a few steps, looking angrily at Alvin. "I don't care who you are, you let that human catch me! You said you were going to help me... you lied!" She bared her teeth, and Alvin was painfully aware of the glint of light off claws that had yet to be worn down to their dull adult status by the friction of dirt and soil.

"I haven't lied to you... my friend, the human... he saved you!" Alvin was suddenly able to remove the smile from his face: It was replaced by fear. Could this creature see she had been saved? With a body like that, she had to be able to feel the weakness, the torturous hunger. How could she possibly stay angry at Alvin when he had saved her? "Look, even I can see how hungry you are! You weren't getting enough food... and even I can smell the predator-territory scent still in your fur! What do you think would've happened if we didn't find you, if you have stayed out there alone?"

A look of dawning comprehension appeared on the rodent's face, though she quickly attempted to mask it. She couldn't let Alvin think she was weak, or that he had won the argument! She had to be right! "I would've lived the same as I always do without traitor pokemon messing things up!"

"And you would've felt confident living alone out there some more, too weak to run, and in predator-infested areas?"

Mia stepped forwards defiantly, a look of sudden pride and pleasure replacing that look of defeat upon her face. "I've been alone for more than a whole cycle of the moon, thank you! I could've kept going on my own..."

"A... a month?" Alvin sounded genuinely impressed, and for good reason. Pichu were by no means a hardy, unusually quick, or unnaturally intelligent species. He knew from experience just how feeble pichu were, and how easy it would be to bring injury to one. If this female had really lasted that long, she must indeed be very special. Still, it was also a plain fact that her body had been and still was starved for nutrience. It was a miracle she had lived as long as she did... there was no way Alvin would let her back onto the streets, only to die of starvation or some other natural cause, or worse. For the sake of overall pichu intelligence alone, she had to live. All Alvin had to do was convince her to stay with him, to show her the merit of living with humans. It shouldn't be too hard, right? She seemed quite adamant in her strength... perhaps Alvin could play that card? "Wow... that is impressive. You must be really strong to last that long out there... and very experienced!"

Mia's cheeks sparked a bit at this, and seemed to flush a bit redder. Having been separated from any friendly contact for so long, Mia wasn't used to talking, much less being complimented. "I am... a lot older than you are, by the look of it! You could have weeks to go, but I'm old enough to evolve in days! I'll get to be a pikachu long before you!"

Alvin looked suddenly away from her, trying to fane respect and falsify a tone of being impressed. Such was not an easy task when he was in no wise even slightly impacted by the prospect of evolution, but with a great expenditure of effort, the pichu did at least manage to look dejected, which was a step in the right direction. "I don't doubt it... but why? Why would you want to evolve? Shouldn't being bigger make it harder to hide, and easier to be eaten?"

Mia sighed, a look of visible exasperation on her face. Patience was not something pichu could be accused of possessing in any measurable quantity. "If that was all evolving did, no one would want to..." She explained matter-of-factly, sliding back into a sitting position as she spoke. "I don't know how you could go so long without knowing... anyway... when we evolve, we get a lot stronger... we can use electricity much better than we can as pichu, and store much more at a time. On top of that, we can eat meat... and mate. Don't you want to do any of those things?" The young female's anger seemed completely gone, now, lost in the excitement of her prospective evolution, which was, according to her, only a few days hence.

"Do you?" This female, whoever she was, seemed most intent on becoming a pikachu someday soon, and in her own mind, she seemed to have the situation fully analyzed. Yes, that was a long list of benefits (minus the last), and for a moment, it actually sparked Alvin's interest. At the risk of completely destabilizing his mind, there lay before him the prospective of a stronger, tougher body, better electrical control, possibly a bigger brain, and the ability to eat meat again. And how easy it would be: Alvin was, according to Des, on the age that was the verge for evolution. All he had to do was slide his goggles off, and the evolution could be his in a matter of days (despite what the female pichu said). 

"Of course I do! Haven't your parents told you about how fun mating is, and how good meat tastes? What about shocking yourself, I'm sure you do that too." Alvin nodded at that comment: The girl was not wrong in her assumption. He had shocked himself a fair number of times that day alone. "Pikachu don't! I can't wait to be one... then maybe I can find a mate and I won't have to live alone, and scared..."

Alvin smiled. A comment like that had been just what he was waiting for. "You don't have live out there anymore... if you don't want to, that is..."

"What do you mean?" Mia asked, sitting up suddenly. As soon as the words were out, however, she quickly tried to hide her eagerness, slumping back into her sitting position with a look of obviously fabricated annoyance.

"I mean: My friend and I always have enough food to eat, and we're always traveling around the world doing exciting things! There's room for you to come along, if you want to. I know he won't mind..." Alvin ran up to Mia suddenly, pulling her onto two legs and starting to drag her towards the couch. She quickly started walking on her own, however, allowing Alvin to let go and simply lead her. "But for now, we've been left with quite a store of fruit, and I would love to share it with you! You do like apples, don't you?"

"Yes, but..." She stopped at the base of the couch, looking up at the face of one large, swollen fruit that happened to be protruding over the edge with a hungry, almost pained expression. "How can you give me food? Don't you need it?"

Alvin rubbed his belly, smiling sheepishly. "Do I really look like I could eat all that? No... I'll be fine. You're older anyway, you said so yourself. We can share it between ourselves and the pikachu up there."

"Pikachu? It's a male scent... will he hurt us?" Mia immediately fell onto four legs, looking for a place to hide. Before she could run off, however, Alvin put a forepaw on one of her shoulders, pulling her sharply into a bipedal stance again.

"That's Des, he's my pikachu... don't worry, he won't hurt us! He's not a wild pokemon, but has lived with humans most of his life, like me..." That was partway true, at least. While on technicality, he had indeed resided with human beings for the majority of his life, the young rodent neglected to mention that he had been one of them for many more years than Mia herself had been alive. "Come on up!" Alvin leaned back momentarily, than leapt cleanly onto the seemingly impassible ridge above them (The pichu equivalent of sixteen or so vertical feet). This, he did without blinking, without even thinking twice, pawing his way up to the little pile of apples and spinning around to look down at the place where Mia still stood, looking nervous.

Des, meanwhile, was already happily engrossed in one of the fruit, too busy eating it to have noticed the pichu (or at least, too intent on gorging himself to react to their presence), but the sight of Alvin beside him caused him to stop eating long enough to smell Mia and to turn to the smaller male, his eyes probing. "So, Alvin, where is she?" Alvin flicked his tail to the left in answer. The pikachu's eyes followed, widening when they fell on Mia. The animal slid his apple aside at once, jumping down to help the pichu female onto the couch and over to the food in what Alvin took to be the rodent equivalent of gentlemanlike behavior.

Mia's worried expression turned to smile, and she gladly accepted the help, beckoning to Alvin to come and join her as soon as Des had lead her to an apple. "I thought you might want share it with me..." She said, trying to hide a hint of sudden bashfulness by ducking between the gigantic fruit on the pretense of licking the dirt from one of her paws.

Alvin grinned mischievously. He saw the situation as perfect means to facilitate the advancement of his goal to attach Mia in a more complete way to the group, and thereby discourage her from leaving, but, like most males, he utterly missed what being asked to share her apple might mean as to the female's motives. "Only if you tell me your name. You know mine, it's only fair..."

"Mia... my parents named me Mia..." She muttered, still pointedly avoiding eye contact with Alvin, a tone of pain mingling freely with the embarrassment that was already thick upon her voice. Without any further delay, the young female set upon the apple. At first, she took small, tentative bites, as though she had no proper memory of the proper method for consuming the fruit. Within moments, however, her unconfident, unsure bites sped up, increasing in size and frequency until she was nearly choking herself with each bite, much as Alvin nearly had after recovering from his first snakebite.

Alvin was far too frightened by this display to near the apple, which Mia finished in what seemed to be a scarce collection of moments, waiting instead for the smaller female to eat her fill before he got anywhere near the fruit. He didn't have to wait long. Roughly two minutes after she started eating, Mia finished the second apple, staggered back a few steps, and fell onto her back. She was a asleep before she hit the couch.

Alvin watched, unsure weather to laugh or cry. On the one hand, he was glad Mia was getting enough to eat, and hoped that this would be enough to take her a good several steps in the direction of a proper nutritional balance. On the other hand, however, he still felt ravenous. Despite his state of relative mental security (or at least, it seemed so to him, when compared to how he had felt a few days previous), he couldn't help feeling more than just the pain of hunger at being deprived a meal. David was only a few steps away, and food no farther, yet he still felt a profound, illogical sadness when he looked at the two apple cores, and found himself suddenly unable to even look at Mia. He turned instead to Des, eyes growing wide and watery. "Des... she ate all the food! Can you get me some, please?" For a moment, the pichu stood motionless on the couch, looking up at Des with a plea in his face.

With a start, Alvin fell backwards, landing on his rear with a somewhat painful and abrupt impact. _What's happening to me? _He thought madly, ignoring Des as he moved closer. _Only a few hours have passed since my mind was repaired... why do I feel like an animal?_

Raiden had been on-edge all afternoon... and for good reason: His week was up, and his task incomplete. Worse still, his offsite teams had accomplished little other than to finish the construction of the base camp. By this hour, his failure was almost public knowledge... or at least, it was public within the upper-level hierarchy in the Rocket home office. Surprisingly enough, however, the man had yet to hear from the boss. Not a single threatening phone call, not a single biotoxin laden memo. This had been a welcome relief from the constant pressure of the previous days... but was also most worrying. The boss was never lenient, never compassionate, and never gave anyone the slightest release from suffering. If his chief steward filled with immeasurable numbers of some disgusting insect that proceeded to devour him, Giovanni would sooner watch than assist, just to hear their screams of terror as their last moments of life flickered away. The man was downright nasty... not hearing from him for this long could only mean he had something particularly 'special' in store for Raiden.

Raiden was a brilliant scientist, the best of the best. He had reached the top of this capitalist organization for that simple reason. As such, his predictions were both profound and accurate, this situation being no exception.

It was late afternoon, well into the hours of golden sun (although there were no windows nor skylights in this underground complex), by the time the Boss came to call. To Raiden's complete bewilderment, it was not through some agent, nor a page that called Raiden into his office... For the first time since Raiden had began his 'career' in his twenty-second year, the boss came in to see him. Raiden was hard at work before his computer station overlooking training bay C-300 when he heard the approaching footsteps, and knew them at once to belong to "The Boss." Each step was in regular order, regular pattern, and plainly annunciated on the epoxy-coated floor (fine Italian dress shoes were not the quietest of footwear). Raiden's hands suddenly tripled in speed, moving along the slick plastic surface of his keyboard with all the speed and determination of drowning man who was desperately struggling, clawing his way at a quickly melting sheet of ice that was the last hope of his escape from doom in the murky depths. Alas, his efforts were in vain. Despite all his best efforts, this puzzle resisted being solved just as it had done for the last week and a half.

The glint of Giovanni's emerald green suit reflected in the monitor of Raiden's computer monitor was enough to trigger a series of red flags in the man's mind, so that he spun around in his chair and stood respectfully as the boss entered. He didn't know if he had any hope, now, but it didn't help to hope... and to do his best to minimize the blow. Perhaps, if he was lucky, only a midnight bus ride awaited him. If he was unlucky, however, or if Giovanni was in a bad mood, that midnight ride was likely to be in the back of a hertz.

To Raiden's utter bewilderment, however, Giovanni motioned immediately for him to sit, his face plastered in a cool grin. "Just come to check on your status..." He muttered in explanation, walking slowly and deliberately along the rear wall, inspecting each piece of inlayed electronics, every waveform output monitor, and every energy amplification or monitoring device. Raiden returned to his computer as instructed, though he wasn't really using it any more... rather, he was attempting to create the impression that he was, while what he was truly doing was watching the boss's reflection inspect the room. Other than Giovanni's cool grin, the boss's face seemed blank and unreadable, his eyes emotionless. When he had finished inspecting the rear of the room, he turned, strode up to the observation desk, and beside when Raiden now sat, leaning a bit as to look out of the reinforced acrylic into the bay below.

Training Bay C-300 had been constructed as an Airmen's training center during the height of rocket power. The room was constructed, much the same as the other rooms in the Rocket "Main Office", by dynamiting through the Sandstone that made up this particular mountain. All told, the room had about four acres of floor space, with nearly one hundred vertical feet of overhead clearance, and a retractable rock ceiling that would dwarf most sport stadiums. It's floor was solid concrete over a reinforced steel mesh, able to stand up to whatever punishment was required. At the moment, however, the roof was in the closed position, the launch rap down, and most of the floor obscured with either military hardware, cheap carpeting, or steel deck. One full corner of the room was taken up by a large, alien-looking device wrought in black metal, a device that had come to be known by those few who knew of its existence as "One of the Tablets of Destiny". Far from a tablet or tome, however, the object was more circular than rectangular, and with a gaping hole in its center. Around that were the intricate, indecipherable writings in a language thousands of years dead. The device was mounted on a large steel platform, secured by the arms of two gigantic cranes, and connected with a thousands different cables to the seeming fields of electronics just beside. And leading up to it, a ramp, that terminated at the exact point of the opening in the device. Beyond that, large, though obviously temporarily erected, barriers reached nearly to the ceiling, obscuring a good two thirds of the chamber. Giovanni would've been able to see the technicians busily scurrying along in their daily labors below had it been any other hour, but just now, the visible portion of the chamber was empty, deserted. It was chow hour.

"Tell me, Raiden, how's that computer model doing? Have you managed to compensate for the variance in our previous calculations yet? How long does it take to generate a stable field, and how long does it remain?"

The scientist-turned-overseer below froze, his face filling with sudden fear. His doom had come at last. He had no answer for Giovanni, or at least, no satisfactory answer. In truth, he had managed to shave a mere hour from the previous six, and had somehow found a way to keep the field stable a full twenty-three minuets, but he knew that simply wasn't good enough. If it had been, they bay before them would've been emptied, its inhabitants long transported into the flickering light of whatever the name of that forsaken place was that lay beyond their eyes. It wasn't his fault! The technology was hundreds of years ahead of what they were using to figure it out, it was a miracle they could even turn on the thing (and even that had been hard enough. The stupid device used as much energy as a small city).

The boss frowned, but he managed to keep his voice calm and collected, and the cool grin was quickly restored to his face. "It's ok... don't worry about it, Raiden, it isn't your fault. I've talked to some of the other technicians, and they say the instability needs to be corrected on both sides in order to get a consistently stable field."

"Y-you did?" Raiden repeated, trying (and failing miserably) to mask the tone of utter terror in his voice, despite the boss's kind words and calm tone. Giovanni didn't need to show emotion to cause other men to fear... simply speaking was enough.

"Most certainly!" The tall, Italian man answered, moving up to Raiden and clasping his shoulders in an almost loving way... only to grasp with seeming impossible force and pull him to his feet. "As a matter of fact, I've already selected the one to do it!" He let go of the man, but Raiden did not move to restore his seat, for obvious reasons.

Giovanni gestured to the single hallway that lead off of the observation chamber, a cold and utterly cruel smile on his face. "Let's stop by your quarters, pick up that pet of yours... Static, wasn't it... and congratulate the lucky man!"

"But Sir..." Raiden protested, his eyes darting to every object, every hall, and every hall they passed as they walked, his voice heavy laden with fear. Surely... Giovanni couldn't mean to... Never! "We haven't trained any Spartans in theoretical physics... how can we expect one to be able to correct instability in the field?"

"We don't have any trained in it /yet/." The boss corrected matter-of-factly, turning sharply down a corner and standing momentarily as a blockade in the hall, discouraging any attempts Raiden might make at flight, regardless of how foolish they might be (it was common knowledge the boss kept a loaded and fully functional replica Lugar on his person at all times). "That's why Static is coming along."

"You're going to have a squirrel teach physics?" Raiden asked, trying to sound as confused and clueless as he could manage, hoping that, perhaps, his foolishness, or perhaps, an amusing joke, might save him from the fate he knew full well to becoming, a fate that was, in his eyes, far worse than death.

"Not exactly, Raiden. Why don't you just wait and see for yourself?"


	16. Undesired Incorporation

Chapter 16: Undesired Incorporation

A/N: I'm so sorry it's taken so long to get this posted. To my credit, I did write this as soon as I said I would. Unfortunately, this time, it was on physical paper rather than on the computer, and as such, it took some time to get it posted here. For those of you who are yet unfinished with your schooling, you will likely know the pain of AP exams and SAT tests... I have both to take, and study I must. I'll still be hoping for reviews on this, however... I would like to thank everyone who reviewed my last chapter... you really helped me get it written right away. I've got finals in two/three weeks, then, school will be over, and I can go back to writing as much as I like to. I've been deprived of writing this in the recent past, and I miss it. Probably too much for my own good, but I digress. You came here for the story, after all, not my inane musings.

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Raiden walked as slowly as possible behind Giovanni without actually losing pace with him, gripping the little furball that was Static tightly in his hands, stroking the little pachirisu's fur every now and then. He felt like he was in a trance, a walking dream. Around him, everything seemed to be moving in its own unique slowness, with sounds echoing strangely and every object assigned its own unique hue.

With a start, the man shot a good several feet into the air, landing a good yard in front of the boss. His pet, who, without realizing, Raiden seemed to have been squeezing quite a bit to hard, and just given him a friendly reminder to lessen his grip. Giovanni only smiled once before continuing on, turning sharply, taking a few more steps, then coming to a dead stop. Before them, a set of steel double doors blocked passage into the cavenous chamber beyond. Raiden did not need to look to the inscription engraved into the concrete above to know where they were: It was training bay C-300. The boss stepped forward, turning to face the doomed scientist behind him. "Raiden, if I were to walk through these doors, what would I find?"

The younger man glanced around for several seconds, his eyes glazed over. It was so hard to concentrate on anything, nor to evoke any response from his own brain. Perhaps he had been drugged without realizing it. Or, perhaps... perhaps he had simply realized the full truth of his own inevitable door beyond those doors. "It's the... Spartan Preconditioning center, sir."

"And inside, how many men? How many men are currently in preconditioning?"

Raiden glanced down at the miniature clipboard attached by an elastic band to a lower trouser pocket. "Thirteen in phase A, Nine nearing the completion of phase B."

"And how many was this bay built to house? How many can be in training at once? How many Spartans?"

Raiden's heart sank a good several notches in his chest. Before, he had been unsure of his fate. Now, it seemed all two obvious. "Thirty-Five, Sir."

That cruel uncaring smile momentarily broke the emotionless mask that was usually his face. With a lightning fast flurry of motion, the boss spun on his heels and took one step back, sliding a miniature computer panel from a pocket and tapping it lightly, extending his free left hand. "Can I see your ID for a moment, please?" Raiden obeyed, however reluctantly. What choice did he have? Giovanni accepted the thin wafer of plastic and metal and slid it into the acceptance slot, where it was immediately drawn in by the device. Contacts connected, and the ID number encoded on the card was read by the computer panel, connecting with Rocket's wireless network and pulling Raiden's records, which were instantly displaced on the screen in much the same format as a financial spreadsheet, with every piece of information neatly and precisely arranged with a strict organizational code. Giovanni, of course, had administrative status, and sever piece of information was modifiable. He stared at the top. "You know, Raiden, I've always known you lied to us about your age when you first joined up... you weren't twenty-two... you were six. And very big for your age, too. So that would make you... twenty-seven? Perfect..." The boss tapped the screen lightly with a gold stylus he had slid from a side pocket moments before, changing Raiden's age from forty-three to twenty-seven with a few strokes of a pen.

A more ordinary man might've raised an eyebrow in confusion at such acts. Did Giovanni really think he could play God, and alter people's lives with a few marks on a computer screen? Raiden, however, knew exactly what the boss was doing. Several years ago, when the Spartan project had first begun, Raiden and the other scientists developing the technology had analyzed the risks involved, and determined that the maximum age for any entrant could be no older than thirty, for beyond that age, the human body could simply not heal itself with enough vigor and completeness to be able to survive. Thrice since that time, loyal rocket soldiers from beyond the age of eligibility had asked for special permission from Giovanni himself to join the project, and thrice, they ended up perishing. While it was an undeniable fact that Rocket nanorobotics had taken gigantic strides in the last six months since someone had tried, Raiden himself had not been behind any of those breakthroughs, and he was not at all confident they would be sufficient to preserve his life. Giovanni was sentencing him to almost certain death, and in the most painful means available without actually lifting a finger against him. Raiden's own body would cause his death... and if it didn't, Raiden would probably rather be dead than suffer life as a Spartan.

Giovanni went on, scrolling down Raiden's record and modifying it, making the changes as said them aloud, more for his amusement than anything else. "Served in the recruitment and public affairs military division for nine years, after the ten spent completing your education in molecular Engeneering and particle mechanics. One year of desk work... sounds good to me! We don't need any of the rest of this... I'll get the supervisor on it as soon as... I appoint one. Poor Miles... he's been missing for five weeks now. I wonder what happened to him?" Despite his words, the sarcasm and lack of feeling in his voice made it quite clear that he knew exactly what fate had befallen Miles, and that knew exactly how unpleasant it had been. "In any case, team Rocket appreciates your volunteering to join the Spartan Program. Please note that through these doors, the R&D department loses jurisdiction. Everything done beyond these doors is self-regulated; self managed, and will likely be very different than the standards you're used to. You will be treated no differently from any other first- year cadet until you reached the alpha-site, at which time you will be promoted to operational overseer. I am also obliged to inform you that by becoming a Spartan, you willingly forfeit all rights and privileges that would be otherwise entitled to you. You cannot hold public office; make legal filings, or own estate. Any property you own will be confiscated by Team Rocket, as well as any real estate you may own, as well as your entire stock portfolio. Upon completion of your term of service, you will be returned these things, or an amount of funds deemed to be equal in value by your supervisor, along with the accumulation of your wage during that term. A term of service for a Spartan is five years, with double benefits for you if you volunteer for ten." Raiden's face fell still further, and he glanced once to either side, as though looking for an escape route. Alas, there was none to be had. He knew all too well that the guards patrolled along every corridor, every hallway, and every room in this area. If it wasn't for Giovanni being there, he might've been able to use his knowledge and familiarity with the guards to cause them that he was in fact in the right place, and that being there was not at all interfering with his regular duties. 

Alas, the man had made that impossible, now. He only had two choices: Accept his fate, or try to fight the Boss, who was armed and probably expecting some form of resistance. His only advantage was the little fur ball of a pokemon in his hands... at that was small solace. He had never used Static for combat before. His species might've been quick and agile one, but untrained they were nothing more than loving, fearful fluff balls, about as brave as Raiden felt now at the sight of his impending doom. He shivered once with the realization that he had no choice. The die had been cast, and his fate was set in stone. Only doom awaited him now. "Here's your identification..." Giovanni muttered, sliding the plastic badge out from his computer and handing it to Raiden, who returned it to it's usual place on his lab jacket. "Good lick, Raiden. I expect you to report from the other side in one month's time. Please don't die... I wouldn't want your skills to go to waste." Giovanni pressed one final key on his computer panel before stepping out of the way and allowing the automatic door to open. Uniformed guards were on either side of Raiden in moments, and ushered him inside with all the energy of a detachment of mourners.

Giovanni stood where he was long after Raiden had been taken inside, smiling to himself in that characteristically unempathic, gaping indifference. If Raiden survived the procedure, as unlikely as that was, he was sure the man would not fail him again. And if, far more likely, the procedure killed him like it did all those others who were too old to survive it, Giovanni would request the security tapes for the training bay, as to watch Raiden expire from internal stress over and over again. At anything else, at least the failed scientist could at least buy him a few moments of amusement.

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"So... where are we going?" Alvin asked, following along in David's footsteps as he headed for the door to the pokemon center. Mia and Des were not safely stowed in their pokeballs, leaving only Alvin on his feet, following his friend like a loyal puppy. David had wanted, as always, to stow his friend away for the next period of travel, where he could be safe and keep a relatively stable mentality, but Alvin would not hear of it. If he was to be doomed, he wanted to taste that doom standing upright, eyes open. "I mean... how are we getting there? I understand Mt. Moon to be far away..."

David paused, but only long enough to scoop Alvin onto his shoulder. "we'll be taking a train to Pewter city. From there, it's only a few days to the mountain. But before we do, I've got to visit a sporting good's store and pick up some supplies. I know we've already got some of it, but I need a decent sleeping bag, and a tent, not to mention dried rations. We can't all have fur and eat nothing but fruit and grasses..."

"I'll trade you!" Alvin exclaimed, his face suddenly brightening. "Then I can carry you around, and you can sleep in my lap, and eat grass, and constantly be looking over your shoulder for something that might want to eat your for lunch..."

David raised a hand to scratch under Alvin's neck, which shut him up at once. "No thank you... as much as I'm sure fur helps with the cold, it's really not worth the loss in mass. Let's just stick with the roles we have. Besides, if I were a pokemon, I wouldn't be a pichu. You guys are cute and all, but you don't share... my particular talents. I would be much more suited to... Tom's future species, perhaps, or an Abra, or maybe one of those mythical species. Either way, I wouldn't be a mouse. I'm much too cool for that." Vermilion City's residents did not seem to think so, however, and who could blame them? This strangely dressed trainer was walking down the sidewalk conversing with a rodent, how else could they be expected to react? While it was common practice for trainers to "Talk" with their pokemon, such as to offer battle strategy or advise them before combat; light, casual conversation between pokemon and trainer as they walked down the street was next to unheard-of. True, passers-by could make out only one side of the conversation, but the fact that the pichu responded at all was remarkable enough in its own right to merit more than minor observation.

David ignored their stares and rude looks for the entirety of the journey, however, unimpaired and unintimidated by their attitudes. There were more important things on his mind, such as how he was going to get home if it took longer than a week to find the device that could restore Alvin to his human body. He had purchased a round-trip ticket on the ship that took him here, but that ship would be back in nine days. If he were not on the port, ready and waiting, when that time came, he would indeed be in quite a predicament. He had no money other than that he had allocated to food and supplies. If he missed that boat, he would have to wire home for money... and even if he did, there was likely no money to be sent. Besides that, he had only one ticket, If Alvin was human again, wouldn't they need two? Sending Alvin home in any state but that that would require him to present a ticket for passage would violate the purpose of this journey in the first place.

Besides money, David had his schooling to consider. True, he had managed to make use of his gift to persuade the councilor to allow him a three week leave from classes (under the premonition that he would make up all his missed work when he returned, of course) in order to attend to "Family matters", and that would all be well and good but not for the fact that David knew all too well that he could not learn with near as much proficiency when he taught himself, and that being away from school for so long would likely throw him behind the rest of the year. That wasn't even considering what would happen to Alvin, who as far as the law was concerned, was a missing person that had simply vanished one morning without a trace. Slightly altering the mentality of someone who trusting him already was one thing, but convincing the police that Alvin had never been gone was quite another. It was always much harder to make people think something that was completely untrue to suddenly be fact than to alter their opinions of something that was merely questionable.

David was startled out of this semblance of a trance, however, by the flat, nearly featureless glass door to the sporting goods store, as his approach activated it, and it nearly slammed into him as it swung slowly open. Alvin had prevented that, however. It was hard to ignore on of his electrical shocks, which were becoming more noticeable as each day progressed and Alvin better learned how to make use of his body. The young man shivered violently a few times as the effect of the shock shot through his body. "Alvin!" He protested, lifting the pichu by the neck and holding him in from of his face, fixing his eyes on him reprimandingly. "You can still talk, you know! You don't need to do that every time you want to be noticed... words will do just as well!"

Alvin squirmed under David's grip, though he stopped as soon as he realized that, if he did break free, he was still being held several body-lengths above concrete. Such as sight would not have intimidated a natural pichu, who would know that a fall from such a height would not cause damage, but Alvin's apparent "restoration" the previous night had replaced much of that instinct with human intelligence. Not all of it, however, as his next words proved. "Sorry David, I didn't mean to. It just... _felt_ like the right way to do it, you know?"

David was so startled by Alvin's words that he nearly dropped him. His friend's language, it seemed, was taking another turn for the worse... what worried the young man was that such regression in verbal patterns had, last time, heralded a similar regression in intelligence where all other affairs were concerned. These were not simply the less sophisticated words that Alvin was restricted to speaking by the limited language of his body; these were his thought... that was what worried David. "Alright Alvin, just... try not to do it again." He said that every time Alvin had shocked him over the last few weeks... and despite all his best effort, Alvin always did it anew the next day. That wasn't to say that, by doing so, he hadn't saved him from a great deal of grief, but the means he used to do so were far from pleasant.

The inside of the store looked little different than any other such facilities David had visited in the past. Its walls were lined with murals of people and pokemon happily enjoying the products offered in a wilderness setting. Further forward, and on shelves throughout the store, those products were displayed, in a colorful array of plastic, epoxy, and nylon. David strode quickly through the shelves, lifting from them a number of light gray containers of dehydrated rations, as well as numerous larger boxes that contained an array of the other supplies, and taking them with him to the counter at the far end of the store.

The clerk watched him all the while, his beady eyes glinting in the dull fluorescence cast down from the half-broken lighting above. His eyes were drawn more than once to the tiny creature riding about David's shoulders: And his displeasure along that note was clear even without the gift. This facility clear had a "no animals" policy, even if many of its products were designed to cope with them. With David buying so much, however, and his visit so short, the man could not be anything other than mildly annoyed. To actually say something might lose a customer, and his animal really wasn't doing anything wrong. "Sir? Will that be all?" The clerk asked as soon as the young man had deposited the products he wished to perchance on the laboriously polished counter, smiling in spite of the clerk's obvious annoyance.

David slipped one hand into a pocket, withdrawing the wad of bills that represented the remainder of his funds. It wasn't a very large stack, but a single glance to the numbers displayed on the corners of the bills told him that it would at least cover the expenses he would enlist during the perchance of these supplies. "Can you think of anything else I might need?" David asked, making eye contact with the man and peeling his mind apart with careful precision. The clerk shivered, but otherwise felt nothing. He was not attune to the gift, and as such, could not feel its influences.

"As a matter of fact..." The man ducked beneath the counter, retrieving a brightly colored box. David didn't have to probe his mind to tell just what was contained inside, or even glance at the photographs that held particular prominence in its packaging. The colors of the packaging alone might've suggested something childish and innocent, but in reality, what the man wanted to sell was anything but. It was an aerosol can, containing a three percent mixture of chloroacetophenone with gaseous ethanol. Animal mace. "I don't know where you're going, but it's always good to keep a handy can of this around... you must watch the news... travelers are going missing left and right. What could be to blame if not the wild pokemon? I wouldn't send anyone off without a can of this stuff... I won't do it!"

_Has someone checked the pichu population? I think I might know where people have been going... _David smiled in response, but it was more to his own thoughts than what the clerk was saying. Although, if people were disappearing, perhaps the assumption that they were suffering a similar fate to Alvin was not as far fetched as first assumed. But then, if people were disappearing now, what had stopped them from vanishing before. The devise that changed Alvin was well worn with time... and surely the others, if there were any, would be just as much so. Time meant people would've had assess to them... why, then, were there no stories of this sort of fate befalling others? In absence of reason on that behalf, David would just have to assume that the man was right, and Pokemon were at fault. He was at least trying very hard to sound honest, and he deserved credit for that. He had a few extra dollars... not many, but surely, you couldn't put a price on security. Normally, he could count on his own pokemon to defend him, but such could not be the case now. Aside from Tom, all of his other pokemon were at home, long disconnected with his ability to access them.

David glanced back to the rodent perched atop his right shoulder. Alvin, it seemed, had found reason to start forming bubbles with his mouth, and trying to blow them across the room. Not only was he not having too much success with the endeavor, but he was beginning to attract even more of the already displeased shopkeep's attention. The sooner David could get them on the road, the better. Not to mention what must be happening in Alvin's head for him to be blowing bubbles, which wasn't exactly a normal activity, even for him. "Alright! I'll take it!" David exclaimed loudly, dropping the extra currency onto the counter. The shop attendant quickly snatched it up a greedy look in his beady eyes as he handed over the can of chloroacetophenone.

"Have a nice day, Sir. Be sure to come again, should you ever be in the area. Would you like a bag?"

David's actions were the only answer the man required: He had already began unwrapping his little pile of supplies, sliding each object into the vacant areas of his backpack before standing again, not making eye contact with the man. "No thank you. Enjoy your spoils..."

Turning swiftly on his heels, David practically ran from the shop, turning sharply towards the sidewalk he knew would lead eventually to the trail he needed to take, glancing again at Alvin, who was now gnawing lightly on the fabric of David's jacket.

"Alvin... are you alright?" The young man asked, raising one hand to idley stroke the fur atop Alvin's head, as he often did. "You don't seem quite yourself..."

The pichu stopped his chewing, looking up at David with a somewhat guilty look. "I... I... David..." He said, slowly, obviously struggling to say even that. "I feel... strange."

David could feel that at their proximity, even though his gloves were quite securely in place. The poor creature's mind, however stable it had seemed only hours before, was a jumbled mess of thought, memory, and instinct, so thick David could not see how Alvin could be feeling anything at all, a tribute to the intelligence of his friend even if his mind was in hundreds of little pieces. "Of course you feel strange, Alvin... you're... what happened to you?"

Alvin's eyes seemed glazed over, and his body seemed to be growing less and less active as the moments passed. David moved the rodent onto a nearby newspaper dispenser, stopping before it to look his friend in the eye. The pichu's eyes were wide with a mixture of terror and sadness, a single tear glistening on the side of his face. "Missing... bits... missing..." He said, his words mispronounced and jumbled together, and his thoughts a fair bit worse. It was a wonder the poor creature could speak at all.

_Missing?_ In a sudden flash of inspiration, David knew exactly what Alvin had meant by that. The night before, in his dream, Alvin had said that he had moved some of his Pichu instincts into David's head in order to free up room for his own mind... could it be that those instincts were not as optional as David has first thought... and that his mind needed them to stay together? In truth, he wished not to consider such a possibility: For it would mean that the pichu instinct and personality had already become part of Alvin's mind... but it seemed the only plausible explanation for this situation. "Alvin!" David exclaimed, loudly, and in a tone heavy laden with worry, drawing more than a few stares of amusement and confusion from passers-by. "How do I put what you moved into my mind back? How do I give back what you loaned to me?" David could see a police officer making her way towards him, but he didn't care. Gone was rational thought from his mind, gone were all other considerations but this one. His friend's mind was falling apart, It was either then, or never at all.

Alvin's eyes sparked with a momentary glimmer of hope amid this utter lack, and he mouthed only one word: "Glove", before collapsing in a motionless heap. True, he had actually mouthed something along the lines of "pi-pi-CHU!", but the effect was the same. David could care less what language Alvin was using, so long as he was still thinking it. The message Alvin intended was as clear as the shimmering water in the bay only thirty feet to David's left, and David had every intention of following up with it. Alvin must know what he was doing... he had to know! If there was any hope for restoring his mind now, and human form in the future, David had to try, and he had to succeed. Gritting his teeth and a determined, almost mad (in the mentally unstable sense) expression; David slid one thin leather glove from his arm, reaching for Alvin with bare skin with one fluid motion. One way or another, this wouldn't take long.


	17. Compounded Complication

Chapter 17: Compounded Complication

A/N: I'd like to thank all of my readers, reviewers, and particularly the forum guys, for supporting me through this last month. It's been really hard on me... but I see no reason to bother you guys with it. I'm feeling much better now, and that's what's important, right? Hopefully enough to write this chapter, at least.

As always, check the blog (this Pen-Name's homepage) for review responses and the like, and if you're interested in more pokemon related transformation, stop by the forum (this Pen-Name's forum). Now that I'm over it, and my computer time is back to what it used to be (What with the summer and all), I should be able to get as close to on schedule as possible. Check my blog for updates on that... but this story should be restored to a weekly (or maybe even bi-weekly) update schedule, within the next few weeks. If may take me a few to get back in the "groove" when it come to writing this, but I'll try to do so as quickly as possible. Either way, I have no intention of ending the story before it is over, or becoming inactive, no matter what life throws at me.

But before I begin... it's come to my attention that the last few chapters strayed from the feel I've been striving to maintain throughout this work: the chronicles of the life of one individual as he attempts to reclaim his humanity. I'll try to get back to that feel as soon as I can... and with the plot progressing how it is, Alvin doesn't seem to be getting much closer to his goal. Poor kid.

Well, enough chat. The chapter awaits to be written, such as it is... When it's done, hopefully I will have pushed this store over eighty thousand words. We'll see. In the meantime...

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"Don't go anywhere, Alvin. I'll be right back... I've just got to cross the trail and refill my canteen... alright?" David forced himself up from his perch on the worn camp chair, glancing to Alvin within his tent (the pichu was currently reading a book, or giving it his best attempt to do so. Alvin looked up, nodded so David could see, then returned to his reading... or a noble attempt at such. Des was watching with mind interest, but he was half asleep, and it was quite clear he was more supervising the pichu rather than observing the activities themselves. Mia was there too, chewing happily on a few apple slices David had given her ten minutes ago. She still hadn't finished them.

Alvin sighed as he heard David walk away through the bushes, pushing away from the book, _A Social Study of Modern Rodent Behavior With Emphasis on Pikachu and Their Kin_, glancing over to Des as though looking for his advise. He had spent the last twenty minutes on the first paragraph, which wasn't bad, considering his current state, and that the book had been written at collage level. "Des... why is this book so hard? I must've read it a dozen times before..."

The pikachu tilted his head in that distinctly animal way, expression his current lack of understanding in its obvious entirety. "I don't know... if you've looked at it before, why again? Why don't you play with Mia instead?"

Alvin sighed, looking away from his pikachu with a somewhat exasperated expression. They had only been on the trail to Mt. Moon two days, and Des had been making references like that the entire way! Longer, if you counted the time before, and their talk about females. Didn't his pikachu realize he had more important things to worry about than finding a mate he would never need? True, Mia was fun to play with, when he allowed himself time for that, but it was endlessly frustrating to be constantly encouraged to develop relations with her for the relationship they would have when they evolved.

Mia wasn't helping the matter. She might not have quite the intellect required to piece together that, by asking Alvin to play with Mia, Des was developing a relationship between them that would make Mia more likely to accept Alvin when he evolved, but she did know what she wanted, and playing with another pichu was higher on that list than just about anything else. "Yeah, come play with me All-avin! You've been playing with that flat thing for forever! And the more you play, the sooner you'll evolve!"

She still didn't understand. Alvin's expression of frustration deepened, even as the prospect of play became more and more alluring. NO! He couldn't do that now... he had to practice human things... like reading. Even if he had needed David to give him half the words, and even if he had spent hours before he could actually make sense of the letters. But No, Mia still didn't understand that he didn't /want/ to evolve! He wanted to stay a pichu... why else would he wear an everstone? Alvin didn't point this out, though. If Mia hadn't understood the first fifty times he had explained it, fifty one wasn't going to do the matter any good. Playing with her would be more productive than that.

"I'm going to go help David." Des said, standing on four paws and moving out of the tent and onto the rich soil just outside it. "Please stay in the tent, you two. David said that predators wouldn't come in here, so you'll be safe." The pikachu had obviously passed some final parker of his attention span. Either that, or his real intention was to beg David for what remained of the apple slices in his pocket, unwilling to steal any of Mia's, even if she had been given far more than she could possibly eat. Des padded quickly away from the tent, disappearing into the underbrush before either Alvin or Mia could do a thing to stop him.

The two pichu unconsciously moved closer together, both of their stances instantly becoming more cautious and fearful, the two remaining apple slices forgotten in one corner of the tent. When there was an adult around, that was one thing. As annoying as Des had recently become to Alvin with respect to Mia, he was still an older, wiser member of the species, one that knew much more about wildlife and combat than the comparatively recent pichu ever could. It all came down to instinct... and instinct made it quite clear that any place with a roof and an adult was a safe place. The tent had suddenly gone from possessing both necessities to qualifying for only one, even if the traces of Des's scent remained.

Mia's fear shown outwardly, huddling close to Alvin despite being the elder and "stronger" of the two (though, in all fairness, she had only recently been saved from the brink of starvation), while Alvin tried to pretend to keep reading, though he was really glancing between Mia and the entrance to the tent. One moment, he had been in a state that had seemed to both his human and pokemon sides to be one of safety. In such a state, instinct and his body's strong emotions were easy to ignore. Alvin simply forced those feeling to the back of his mind. But now, with the safety of David and Des both gone, his state was one of much more peril, even if his pokemon was only fifty feet away, and David was only a few feet further. Fear suddenly became the most prevalent thing in his mind, with the instinct to get as close as possible to anyone else who happened to be friendly. You were safer if you were close to someone else nice, and the more pichu, the better.

Alvin became dimly aware of the low murmur of human voices somewhere through the thick trees and bushes that separated their camp from the trail beyond, but he ignored it. It was probably just another trainer, passing on their way to Mt. Moon, probably looking to capture some unique pokemon, or perhaps looking for more of those evolution stones. Besides that, his current state of fear demanded more attention than passing humans ever could.

The male pichu attempted to strike up a conversation, or just to get talking... anything to distract him from his and Mia's loneliness. "So... do you regret leaving the city? I know leaving must've been a new experience. You were... raised there... weren't you?"

Mia nodded quickly, huddling so close to Alvin that he could feel her rapid breathing, and sense as her body absorbed some of the vivacity of his racing heart. In any other situation, he would've found this situation awkward at best, so close to a member of a member of the opposite sex, and neither of them clothed, but it didn't bother him in the slightest, and wouldn't have even if their lives didn't seem in peril (though that was a gross exaggeration of their current state, or so he well hoped). "Yep! I l-lived there m-m-my whole l-life. But w-when my mommy died, I had to live on my own. I-I'm glad we left! It's s-safer with you, Alvin!"

Alvin opened his mouth to reply, unknowing hugging Mia out of fear, but before he could say anything... a loud crack split the cool, late-afternoon air, causing his ears to flatten instinctively to protect his hearing, then the sound of the birds above leaving their perches in fear, squawking loudly in their many tongues as they did so. Alvin's pichu brain spoke before his intellect. Louddangerous, run to somewhere safer! He stood, Mia moving in perfect harmony with him. They darted from the tent, heading directly for the thick wood beside the path. Alvin didn't think twice, didn't argue with the instinct... he ran beside Mia, struggling to keep up with her due to having not eaten all of that day. Nevertheless, there was nothing that could stop him from running at the top of his speed without particular destination, and nothing to give his humanity any foothold with which to fight the instinct. He had no desire to fight it. He had already been feeling extreme fear... that last sound had been all that was necessary to push him over the edge, and Mia along with him. They were getting out of there! As to where they were going... neither of them thought far enough ahead to guess. All they cared about was that they moved in the opposite direction of danger, without realizing that, while it seemed to be open and representing safety, the thick forest was about as far from protected as they could've gone.

-----------------------------

"Karan! You're not supposed to shoot the kid!" The tall man dressed in civilian clothes shouted, and loudly, waving a gloved fist at his shorter, and much more sloppily dressed accomplice. "Get his pikachu too! We could always use another in the generator back at base..."

The shoter, more bulky man leveled the thin black weapon in his hand at pikachu retreating away from them down the path, counting to three, and casually discharging another round. The 22 CB round traveled through the air at well over one thousand feet per second, slamming into the lower half of Des's body with a little spout of blood. The pikachu flew a good foot, skidding to a halt feet from the place he would've turned to enter the campsite, his breathing shallow and ragged. He was still breathing, though, a testament to the skill of the marksmen. Karan might been slightly overweight, as well as a bit rash, and severely unkempt when there was no inspection to be had, but no one could criticize his shooting. Even at the low level of team Rocket he currently occupied, he was the best in the entire west division (as he would promptly inform anyone who commented on his gruff manner of speech, or his comb over). The man might be ugly, he might be cruel, and he might be the nastiest human on the west half on the continent, but if he had a gun, there was no way he would miss. That was why he had joined team rocket, after all. His passion was the gun... he didn't care what or who, or even for what reason. He just wanted to shoot... and he wanted to kill. Unfortunately, team rocket had a policy of never directly "killing" anyone, so he was forced to stick to low calibers and sport munitions. Still, there were accidents... five on his record, "accidental" deaths, where a round that was not even supposed to puncture the skin just "happened" to impact the temple, the only place it could actually be lethal. That was why he was still at Junior Inductee after fifteen years, and why he was taking orders from a man half his age. But for Karan, it was worth it.

"How many times must I say it... you don't need to shoot everyone we meet... base is only looking for someone of a particular quality. I hadn't finished talking to him yet! How were we supposed to know weather or not he was one of those telepathic freaks? We've been here all day, and haven't seen a one? What would make this boy any d-"

The shorter man answered with a low, dangerous voice, just as he cleaned the inside of his still-smoking weapon with the corner of one sleeve. "I knew. The is the one... he was doing... weird things... in my head... he knew what we were doin'! He was saying it over and over in me head, tellin' that I didn't want-a shoot 'im. But it didn't work, see! I nailed 'im!" The man gestured down at the fallen teenager crumpled awkwardly on the ground twenty or so feet from them, his breathing ragged and irregular, much as Des's was. "Besides, if he wa-nt the one, we just get up-n leave 'im here, and he wake up in a few hours wit a head-sore. But he's the one. I knows it!"

Even the taller man, who had lived his entire life in the slums of humankind, shuddered as he head his partner speak, not just at the poor English, but at the way he so easily fired and dispatched life with his sidearm, a sidearm he himself had never needed to touch. Proper threats and intimidation could go just as far as actual force... at least as far as these situations were concerned. Karan had never thought so, though. Karan shot first, asked questions later, as the saying went. That was why he had this post, and why Nigel had never requested reassignment. For in this posting... there was a lot of shooting to be done. Their job was simple: Base would radio in specifications for a person they were looking for. Find a tall girl of middling height, then would say, or find someone older than twenty-five with black hair and with a particular bone of a particular length. Genetic markers, or something like that, base had said, but Nigel didn't really care. They would sit, concealed in a cleverly constructed observation post in a grove of trees, watching as trainers walked past, and retrieve those that matched the specs sent to them, as well as any and all of their pokemon for sale on the black trading market. If they made a mistake, or had to measure something that couldn't be done from a distance and got a measurement wrong, they would leave the trainer a few miles up the trail, without stealing any of their possessions, making it seem as though the whole attack never happened. But more often then not, if they called in a mistake... base would accept them anyway. And when they found someone base needed, it was their job to take them to a rocket checkpoint halfway to the Mt. Moon base, where a representative would ferry the living cargo the rest of the way, leaving them to return and resume the waiting game. It was a dull job, but a necessary one. Base needed more bodies.

Bodies, all right. That was all most of them ended up to be, if the stories were true. For as tight as internal security within the Mt. Moon base was, it was impossible to silence something that involved as many personnel as the current project. By this time, rumors had reached down to even the lowest levels of the organization, and they were far from pleasant. Stories ranged from massive killing chambers were people were feed to ravenous and unfriendly houndoom to a ray that changed people into pokemon to supply game to Giovanni's private (and very illegal) pokemon hunting range. Nigel didn't know if any of those rumors were true, but he knew one thing for sure: Whatever this boy was destined for, it sure wasn't pleasant.

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"Mia... slow down... I can't run any farther!" Alvin protested, allowing himself to slow to a stop and collapsing on the damp earth, panting. The female pichu tried to keep going, but she didn't make it very much farther, collapsing in much the same way Alvin did less than three feet from him. The two had run for something close to a full ten minutes (some time indeed for a pichu), their minds thinking only of distancing themselves as much as possible from the noise that meant inevitable danger back at the place they had been (the fact that they had been retreating from the one person that might've protected them, had rocket not interveaned, did not cross their minds), as well as avoiding the scents of the many predators they picked up along the way. Of those, there was no shortage, and the two were nearly eaten by two separate reptiles along their brief but thrilling escape from what had been no direct danger to them. Indirectly, though, they might've saved their own lives. For had the rockets discovered them in the tent, they would've been captured and sent into the power generators along with Des. Pikachu only survived in those chambers a few months or so, on average... most pichu that didn't evolve right away didn't last a week.

Still, they didn't seem to be much better off now, alone in the middle of the forest with not a trace of protection from the predators that surrounding them on every side to either of them, and scarcely strong enough to lift a paw from the length of their run. At least, had the rockets found them, there was a slim chance they would've been sold, or used for breeding purposes, rather than find their way into the electrical generation system, and could've lived long, healthy lives. Instead, instinct had directed them to flee... and it would soon prove to be as much their undoing as was their savior, protecting them from one doom only to face them with another.

At least, it would've, were it not for the instinct of another electrically based rodent that happened to be patrolling a nearby area when their scents were pushed in his direction by the wind. 'Pichu? This far from the colony? Impossible!' Still, Shockwave did as he had been taught to do, yelling for another two strong males to accompany him to investigate. Smelling pichu at this hour, and at this distance, usually meant a pichu had wandered off, been picked up by a predator, and dragged back to its den. Three pikachu could deal with most predators, and if they couldn't, one was bound to make it back in order for the colony to send in the more powerful warriors (Raichu). It was never expected (and they were encouraged not to hope) to retrieve the pichu themselves... just to deal with whatever had taken them and move on. It was a rough existence at the bottom of the food chain, but it was also why Pikachu could breed year round, while most pokemon only did so once or twice a year. They had to, or they would've been quickly hunted to extinction. And only one in five-hundred pichu would live to become raichu, though half of them would live long enough to mate at least once.

Given the high mortality rate of pichu that vanish from the colony, the "rescue" party was thoroughly surprised to find not one but two, still very much alive, a full quarter mile from the colony. This was unheard-of... a practical miracle. What was far stranger, however, was that the trails of their scents came from the opposite direction, and one of them, the smaller and weaker male (even compared to Mia), had some strange objects attached to him, in colors richer than most pikachu would ever see (their group not being close enough to have direct contact with humans, let alone their artificial dyes). With a find like this, two pichu close to evolution as well as the objects they carried, Shockwave was sure to receive an extra apple for dinner, not to mention more attention from the females, and maybe even a chance at a thunderstone! Regardless of what the reward was, he had to get these pichu safely back to the colony before their scents attracted any more attention than they already had.

Alvin had just enough energy to open his eyes at the sound of movement from around him, squinting in the rapidly dimming light. He caught a blur of motion moving swiftly in his direction, and he flinched... then all energy failed him, and he drifted off into unconsciousness.

Mia, on the other hand, was very much awake. She had just ran farther than ever before in her life, but still felt strong, eager, and unafraid, even if the levels pain in every one of her limbs was far too intense to actually move any of them. She felt euphoric, even though she knew full well she probably wouldn't last the night. It didn't make sense! How could she feel so much pain and yet be so happy at the same time? Furthermore... why was there so much electricity flowing throughout her body, all of the sudden? Was she being attacked? Had she run so hard that she had lost electrical control? As it turned out, just the opposite... the approached pikachu froze, watching as random electrical discharges in the leading female pichu began to build, and they retreated several paces, knowing full well what was about to happen. Mia realized it herself only moments later, as she opened her eyes again and saw the light from her own body reflected in nearby, moisture covered stone. She was evolving. "All-avin... I did it!" She whispered triumphantly, glancing back at the sleeping pichu behind her. Why did he suddenly seem so... cute, with his legs curled gracefully beneath him and his head tucked down, exposing the thick bands of muscle that were just visible from beneath Alvin's fur, and the way his chest rose slowly up and down as his breathing began to stabilize. More than that, her wandering mind had just pieced together the difference between males and females... and she knew no male would suffice but the one that had saved her from the city, even if he was a bit younger. All he needed was time...

Mia's still-pichu face held a pleasant, almost dirty grin, as she thought about Alvin... at least until the transformation began on more than a mental level. Her brain triggered the release of a flood of endorphins, just as it was programmed to do; doing it's very best to conceal the pain of what was happening next. As much as that helped, it was obvious from Mia's reaction that much of the pain remained. She gritted her teeth against the pain, then began to shout incoherently at the top of her voice, yelling for the trail to end. Unfortunately for her, it was just beginning. Bones expanded in a sudden and amazing wave of growth, some fusing together while others kept their existing shapes, stretching muscle along with them, pulling her rib cage downward and stretching it out, allowing for the surge of growth within her vital organs, as well as for the vast expansion of an organ system that had previously been useless to her. Her soft, downy fur fell out in huge tufts, replaced by a rougher, thicker coat of a much deeper yellow, those patches of black fur replaced by the yellow all around. The electroplaques in both of her cheeks rapidly expanded, forming new connections with the brain to regulate more precise control over her now-tripled electrical potential. Lastly, her tail nearly tripled in length, shedding it's black, and forming into the distinct lightning-bolt that is so well associated with the pikachu species.

At long last, the changes to Mia's body were complete and the light slowly died, leaving her to get shakily to her feet, stretching each limb. She felt simultaneously the best and worst she had ever felt, muscles and tendons stretched to the breaking point, but more endorphins in her system than would've been there had she taken dangerous amounts of illegal stimulating drugs. But, as before, the feeling of euphoria, even at its current level of intensity, was no match for the growing pain and profound soreness that she felt from every part of her body, from her ears down to organic implementation she didn't even know she had, and the strength required to stand fled from her every limb and she collapsed into a small pool of her own blood, looking up helpless into the eyes of the pikachu she had only just noticed were standing there, before succumbing to the tiredness and pain, and releasing the death-grip she held on consciousness, drifting slowly off into the land of sleep.

-----------------------------

Alvin awoke early the next morning at the sound of many voices, chittering on every side of him easing him slowly out of sleep. The transition was more gradual than it would've been had he been awoken by David's loud, low voice (at least it seemed so), due to his familiarity with the tones, and the easiness of the pitches on pichu ears. He knew the sounds well... they were quite high it pitch to any human, and even most pikachu, but sounded perfectly normal to his ears, neither low nor high. There was only one thing those voices could be: Other pichu, many of them, clamoring around only inches from Alvin's sore body. He tested the ground beneath him. It yielded and spread under the slightest pressure like sand, which Alvin realized it must've been. Where was he? Last he remembered, David had left to fetch some water from the pond across the trail, then he heard something... and he had ran. Alvin suddenly jerked upright, sitting up quickly, eyes darting around. He must've fallen asleep after running from camp, and thus expected to see the forest flora and the light shining down from through the canopy. He was disappointed. Instead, his eyes found himself surrounded by a throng of at least twenty pichu, Mia not among them. They were all utterly unfamiliar to him, and yet, he felt perfectly at home, warm, and safe. Still, he wouldn't be satisfied until he knew where Mia had got to, no matter how safe he was. What Alvin didn't notice, however, was how easily thought he had held of returning to David only moments before slipped from his head light water held in cupped hands. As hard as he had worked to regain control of his mind... being so close to so many other pichu, practically bathing himself in their pheromones... instinct suddenly became very hard to ignore.

Alvin found the bodies of half a dozen pichu pressed against him, as the residents of this earthen den sudden pressed in from all sides, bombarding him with questions. Most seemed a tad smaller than he, though at least five were larger, with paws that had much more power to move him than the small, weaker ones. They all seemed just as eager to hear the story of how he came to be there in the middle of the night, smelling of strange creatures, and half-covered in pikachu blood.

Alvin tried to push them away, asking if they had seen a female pichu with him, but the answer was no all three times he asked. Shaking his head in frustration, Alvin sat down again, bidding the others to do the same, and he began to tell them his story, starting with the loud noise that startled them from the campsite. All told, the story took no more than five minutes to tell, the other pichu listening with varied levels of interest... at least the ones that were awake. It seemed, based on the light streaming down through a single, burrow-like entrance to the outside, that it was around dawn, probably between five and six in the morning, and that some of the pichu, particularly the much younger ones, the ones who slept on what looked to be fresh moss rather than dirt, and were less than half Alvin's size. Wherever Alvin now was, there was clearly no shortage of electrical rodents about.

"What about life outside the colony? Can you tell us about that?" One of the closest, and smallest nearby pichu asked, leaning in closer to Alvin, and looking expectant.

Alvin shook his head quickly, looking around at the chamber they were in once more, his face bearing a mixed expression of awe and surprise. Still, he couldn't turn down a request from one of his fellow pichu, particularly since they had seemed so nice and accepting of his, despite him being a stranger, obviously not born or raised anywhere near their colony. "Not now... but I will, I promise. Before I do, I need someone to tell me a little bit about the 'colony'. Can you do that?"

The pichu nodded eagerly, but froze, sniffing the air, as did all the others pressing around Alvin. For a fraction of a second, the chamber was utterly silent and still, then, a vibrant yellow blur Alvin saw only out of the corner of one eye shot across the room with incredible speed, pushing between the wall of pichu and the earthen wall of the chamber until it reached Alvin, who didn't have the chance to react, and was forced painfully to the earth.

Something stood atop him, holding him down with its forepaws, and smiling down at him in an almost parental, obviously excited kind of way. "Alvin, look... I evolved!"

-----------------------------

Less than ten miles away, but buried beneath nearly thirty-five stories worth of stone, Raiden was slowly regaining consciousness, or at least some fraction of it. His sedative mix had obviously been mixed improperly again.

Getting up as much strength as he could currently muster, the former head of scientific operations opened his eyes, blinking several times in an attempt to clear the water from his eyes, before his eyes focused on the cylindrical tank wall in front of him, and he remembered just where he was. The man's breathing quickened instinctively as he realized he was completely submerged in that same, lightly green fluid, dressed only in a thin, semi-metallic jumpsuit, with all limbs bound tightly to the rear wall of the capsule. Raiden looked out at the rows of identical tubes in front of him, trying not to look at their occupants. How many times had he looked down on this room from above, not even thinking to consider what it would be like to view the room from within one of the many cylindrical tubes that occupied the primary section of the Spartan bay. He had never dreamt to imagine he would ever find out... and all because he couldn't decipher the coding and function of a device well beyond their current level of technology.

Raiden was stirred from his inane musings, by the sound of muffled voices from outside his cylinder, as well as the fluidic rushing sound that meant it's automated systems had already measured his increasing vital functions, and had just released more sedative one of his many ivs to compensate. His head began to spin, becoming lighter and lighter, but he fought to stay awake, desperate to hear the voice, any voice, after spending days partially sedated in a glass tube hardly large enough for his inflexible body. As consciousness faded, he caught the words of one of the lab technicians to another, some words slurring into each other while others remained completely indistinct.

"Check his vitals. All green?"

"Acknowledged."

Raiden watched as they connected another unconscious subject to an empty cylinder across from him, his vision swimming as his head became lighter under the growing pressure of the sedative.

"Load genetics a-... -51, strain A. Course of... 23. Nutrient levels, thi- ... per thousand, Maximum tank filtration."

"Acknowledged. Containment levels?"

"Psyconural, immune, and energetic. 100 perce-..."

It was at this point, blood running with enough sedative to put down a charazard, that Raiden finally succumb to the welcoming sleep, allowing his mind to drift once again to strange dreams. With luck, this time would be his last. Maybe, if whatever deity happened to be watching took pity on him, maybe he wouldn't wake up. As far as Raiden was concerned, nothing seemed more welcoming a prospect. If only he were so lucky.


	18. Evident Delusion

Chapter 18: Ascendancy

Chapter 18: Evident Delusion

A/N: It's been exactly one year at the time of this writing that I first drafted chapter seventeen. For the longest time, any interest of mine has been somewhat fickle, blowing in and out from story to story with the wind. But at the anniversary of my last contribution, I've felt this story calling me back. Alvin's story isn't finished yet, and it's my duty to tell it. This will not be the last chapter in Alvin's story, but it is one of the last. He has a good deal to get through yet, though… so don't worry.

I have much more to say about MM, to be sure… but I'll leave that for the notes after this chapter.

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As far back as he could remember, Sparks had never had a stranger dream. He slept as he always did, Beside Mia in their little hollow of the nest, so the location had obviously not been to blame. Could it be that something foul had been in his food that day, or perhaps some dream-eating fowl had caused his mind to twist into nightmare? Sparks considered the possibility, but then… it felt much easier to forget about it and get back to his foraging.

He had been standing alone on a little patch of grass, it's edges perfectly square and its elevation perfectly uniform. For a time, Sparks had wandered, searching for a familiar scent, or the shape of someone he knew. He found neither. After what seemed like hours of pointless running, searching with no result, Sparks simply gave up, lying down in the grass and waiting for it to end. He hadn't know he was dreaming then, of course… as he lay there, looking up at the starry sky, his ears twitched once, turning to catch a strange sound that was suddenly drifting on the air. The sound, at first, seemed unknown, and was certainly unnatural. Like the striking of wood against something tightly drawn, each blow producing a reverberation of a slightly different pitch. _Piano _he thought… but what was a piano? He could not remember the tune, at least, not on the level of remembering. It was familiar in some echoing shadow of memory, and with every note, his mind began to drift farther and farther along with it, farther and farther from a reality he had come to know and understand over the last year. "Hello?" He asked the emptiness, leaning back onto his hind legs and looking around to try and get a better view. There was nothing to see. The music… for that was what it was called… was getting louder by the moment, calling him. Somehow, without knowing how he knew it, he knew that, wherever the strange sound was, he belonged.

As he moved, the moon seemed to brighten, shedding its light with increased fervor with every step. Sparks was transfixed by the sound, utterly taken by it. He knew it so well, despite it being so unfamiliar to his waking mind. So mesmerized was he by the sound that he scarcely noticed the changing scenery around him as he trudged forward through the grass. The walls of brush became towering monoliths of oak, polished and flat. The grass melted into carpet, becoming less and less natural under his paws.

Before long, he had arrived. Moonlight had been replaced by a merrily crackling hearth somewhere behind him. The walls were lined with bookshelves, nearly overflowing with the volumes they contained. On the far left of the room, surrounded by chairs of varying sizes, was the piano. It was huge, stretching into the sky many times higher than his head. Sparks leapt up onto the polished wooden bench, watching as the pianist's fingers drifted from key to key. The motion was smooth, melodic, and seemed to hold both of the room's occupants spellbound. Sparks eventually pulled his eyes away from the boy's fingers long enough to look into his face. What he saw made him flinch, body falling nearly limp with shock. It was a passive, friendly face, with bright blue eyes and unruly brown hair. The boy himself was thin, weak looking, but quick in his movements and intent in the concentration he showed with each keystroke. Sparks felt a deep and immediate connection with the boy, and knew the face without thinking. It was him.

The human boy did not notice him, did not even blink as he played, repeating the same eerie strains of the Moonlight Sonata. From Sparks's pichu perspective, each note reverberated through the room, sending vibrations though his feet. It was not the sound that disturbed him, though. The longer he listened, the more his mind drifted, and the more unfamiliar things began floating to the surface, the shadows of ghosts from a time he could scarcely remember. There were symbols too, most of which had no meaning for him anymore, but a few that seemed to almost mock him, their realities so close he could almost feel them, their meanings hanging just out of reach. Pie, Phi, The Golden Ratio, KNO, Dark Matter, Mitochondria. It all meant something, but what? Sparks frustration grew and grew, until it became energy in his cheeks. "STOP!" He squeaked, shocking the boy with every ounce of energy he could muster. The human did not even flinch. The chords did not stop, but the boy turned in his seat, looking down at the rodent with glazed, unfocused eyes. "Be quiet Sparks, I'm playing." He said, turning back to the piano with almost robotic precision. There was something quite unsettling about the way his image played. With every moment, the sound was more robotic, a precise matter of one note after the other, without variance in volume of emotion behind the keys. It was lifeless.

Alvin turned away, trying to block the sound of the cords from his mind, trying to silence them with anything he could! He thought of the colony, of his mate and their pichu, of his last happy year there, and all the joy he had experienced within the colony. It did not suffice. The musician was relentless, and he could not run, for the door opened into nowhere. With every bar and every measure he saw flashes of fragmented reality. He remembered the first incision he had made in a dissection he had made two years ago, and that the carpel bones were in the hand. He remembered Desumo, his loyal pikachu, and their conquests in the pokemon league. There was nothing distinct, noting connected… little pieces of his disillusioned past that had survived underneath his consciousness, and shattered vestiges of what had been his life rising slowly like steam from cooking meat. Little of what he saw lasted more than a few seconds, rising past him and out of sight. It was like trying to remember a dream after only waking. At first, it seemed perfectly clear… then, as the moments past, it started slipping away again, draining from between his fingers no less quickly than water held in cupped hands. Then, suddenly, in a lurch of motion, he felt his body suddenly change, and the sound briefly stopped. With the silence came a sudden lurch in his chest, a sudden longing and burning that manifested as physical pain. He clutched at his chest, glanced once down at his fingers… and looked around, bewildered and confused. He was human? A pikachu... his own body… stood beside him on the bench, looking up at him with wide, expectant eyes. "Play!" Had the force been spoken, or had he merely thought it?

Alvin did not know, and he did not need to know. He glanced once down at the keys… and began to play. Alvin had always been a natural musician, though it had taken second-string to pokemon training and his schoolwork, meaning he had almost never gotten around to it. But when he had been younger… much younger, he fell ill to a rare but potent disease that kept him inside for months. His friends tired of his company, and without pokemon yet… his parents had turned him to other interests in order to help him overcome absolute boredom. He sped through every book in their library in a matter of weeks, from the hardy-boys to the Harvard classics. But as the weeks wore on, he had finished every book, and was still too sick to go outside, and still had to drag around his IV with him through the house. As his mind became less active, so too his body, and his illness took a sudden turn for the worse.

With no books to read, and his parents so often out of the house on their own work, Alvin spent night after night in his room, leaving his bed less and less. In an act of desperation, his parents bought a piano, and promised the six-year-old Alvin that if he learned to play, his body would conquer the sickness and he would feel well again. The boy had always been an honest, trusting lad… and if his parents told him something, there was no way it couldn't be true, right? Three days a week, the teacher would come to instruct the ailing child in piano technique… but Alvin rarely left the den other than to eat and sleep after that. He moved from a beginner to an expert pianist in two months, spending every waking hour of his time at the keys. One of the most difficult pieces for him was the Moonlight Sonata. When his instructor had first began his teaching, she had played the piece to demonstrate what he could become someday… and thus, that piece became his ideal. He found the music in one of the many books, tearing the pages from the binding and hiding them under his pillow. Every day he carried them downstairs to the den, shut the little glass doors behind him, and played until his fingers were sore from the effort, played until he no longer needed the music, until they placing of his fingers became instinct. With his growing determination, his life found renewed vigor, and he eventually recovered completely from it.

Still, for weeks after he had become completely healed, Alvin did little but sit on the bench and play the Sonata, over and over. It had became more than a tool for him, but a necessity. He could not stop, or the illness would come back! He owed it to the piano, for helping him…

Even now, he remembered the notes. The memories were so distant that there was very little to see… it was all sensations of a different kind now, impressions and feelings of a concrete assuredy. He had not seen fingers for over a year, had not felt clothing… but the music came. Slowly at first, choppy and broken, as though the piece had been written of quarter-notes in some unfamiliar time signature. Then, as the seconds passed, be played faster and more precise, missing fewer and fewer notes until his mind found the memory and the piece was instantly perfected. With every repeat and every stanza, Alvin felt as though the piano was growing around him… but it was so smoothly that he did not miss a key. As his human body became younger, his teeth larger and more childish, his feet further and further from the ground… the keys felt bigger, but with an insane fervor, Alvin did not stop, could not stop. His clothes had shrunk with him, until he had again become that sickly child, sitting on his knees atop the bench to reach the keys with thin, unhealthy-looking limbs.

He was back in his own body now, watching with empathic pain as the child struggled to hit each successive key, hands not wide enough for the maneuvers required to play the particular piece. Sparks reached out to help the boy, to depress the key just out of his reach… but his paw would not reach, and he ended up falling to the ground, sprawled flat, a few inches from one of the pedals. Nothing had been injured… at least, not outwardly. He rolled over onto his back, looking up into the face of the boy, who had suddenly stopped playing to look at him. "Why can't you help me, Sparks?" The child asked, tears streaming from his face. "Why can't you help yourself?"

Sparks awoke with a start, sitting up from beside Mia, eyes wide with fear and confusion. The colony was still asleep, it's walls dark and quiet, and Sparks tried to get back to sleep… but sleep would not come. As vivid as the dream had been, it remained persistently in his mind, refusing to fade the way most of his disturbing dreams did. Sparks had pretty much accepted them as a fact of life now… but none in his memory had suck that deep, lasted that long, and remained as persistently engrained in his waking mind. He was still thinking about it four hours later, as they were gathering food with the other Pikachu. "Stay there, Sparks, I'm going to try and hit that apple, alright? Be ready to catch it!" Mia called down from her precarious branch on the lowest branch of an apple tree. He hardly noticed as she moved further and further out on the branch, her stance less stable with every step. What had the boy meant? Why would he want to help himself… help with that? Wasn't he happy? He was one of the youngest Pikachu in the clan to have a mate., he had a brilliant daughter and a supporting mate… what more could any pikachu possibly ask for? The clan's food supply was well stocked, and he was well loved by the clan. Wasn't he happy?

He knew that he should be. With all that he enjoyed, it was almost insane of him not to be. But no matter how many apples were tucked safely in the clan's stores, and no matter how many pichu he had… something didn't feel right. He could not see it in the other members of the clan, it was true They were perfectly content to live the same day a thousand times over. They quickly forgot the names of those pikachu that died… and all their pleasures seemed empty. Alvin was discontent, no matter how well Sparks's body was doing. Was that what the dreams were telling him? He did not know.

Sparks's moment of introspection was interrupted, however, as Mia tumbled from the branches above to land a few feet from him, sprawled painfully on the ground. "I guess there's a reason we don't usually climb. I guess it's just a little out of reach." She moaned, looking up at him with a sheepish grin.

Sparks echoed her smile, helping her onto four paws. Nothing was broken. "No, we can't usually do that. But… I still think we can get that. It's just a little high up." Sparks turned away, digging through a nearby bush, obviously looking for something. He emerged a second or two later, a long stick clasped in his mouth.

"What good with that do? We can't eat that!"

Sparks sighed. Why was it none of the other pikachu, not even his mate, seemed to be able to think about obstacles? It was either a direct accomplishment or a critical failure, nothing in-between. Mia was getting better, but… only by so much. "Stand on your hind legs… with me… now help me hold it. Yeah, like that. Now, step with me towards the apple. Ready, go!" They struck the apple several good blows with the stick, until it had been loosed from its stem and fell to the earth with a thump. Mia dropped the stick at once, rushing to the apple and wrapping herself protectively around it. Apples were a particular delicacy this far into the season… and the pikachu all around them that had been content to simply watch made a sudden dive for it. Mia got to it first.

"You're amazing, sparks! You always have such good ideas!" She said, taking the apple in her mouth and bringing it to Sparks.

"It's nothing I did." He said, forcing himself to look away, an uncomfortable expression on his face. "We're just lucky it was growing on such a low branch. I'm surprised no one got it by now."

"Are you?" Mia asked between mouthfuls. "No one else would think of something like that!"

"I guess not." They never did. Why was that? How could they be so content with living with unsolved problems, despite how easy a little thought might solve whatever difficulties they were faced with. They either accepted the situations because that was the way it had always been, or fled from whatever issues could not be solved. It was like leaving a thorn in your paw and trying to go about your day as though nothing had changed, despite the pain in brought. Why not just pull it out? That was the biggest problem he had always felt. During the time he had been here, Sparks had solved many of the these vexing dilemmas for the pikachu. He had discovered that it was best to eat the oldest apples in storage first, and that leaving rotten ones would cause the others to spoil. He discovered a way to maintain a fire, keeping it small enough to burn all night, keeping the colony warm from the inside in the coldest months. He found that moving the droppings of larger predators close to the colony could help keep smaller ones away, and that sustained electricity could be used for more than direct attacks. The right concentrations of sand and clay could be melted into something hard, with enough patience. Certain stones could be coaxed into light with a bit of energy, and some could be used as weapons. When filled with water, nutshells properly baked in clay could be made to explode when energy of sufficient voltage was applied. Trouble was, most pikachu didn't seem to find it in themselves to do anything with the tools he had invented unless he led them through it. At best, when some predator attacked, they would retrieve their pichu and run. At worst, they would throw themselves before the beast one at a time, instead of putting their efforts together and doing some serious damage. It was almost sad. Without any raichu in the colony, it probably would've been lost already.

Almost as though his thoughts had summoned it, Sparks was suddenly aware of many pikachu shouts as the peaceful gathering turned to one of pandemonium. "It's a furret!" One yelled, streaking away from the colony. "We all need to get away!" Screamed another, as the many creatures turned into a panicked mob, moving away from the colony. When reality screamed predator, instinct screamed back that it was time to leave. The saddest thing was that, more often than not, Sparks listened. It was cowardice, maybe… but it had kept him alive this long, had it not? This time would be the exception. He could not run. Mia was on her feet, preparing to run, but Sparks shouted to her, and she stopped. "No Mia… Jolte's still in the colony! We can't leave her!" Without turning to see if she had listened, Sparks took off toward the source of the loudest screaming, barreling through the crowd of panicked rodents moving in the opposite direction. Never mind what happened to him, his daughter had to be protected!

As the colony came into view, he saw the freshly turned dirt that meant a furret had found its way into the colony, as well as the blood. One of the reasons the creatures were so dangerous were their hunting techniques. Rather than be content with one kill, a furret would take as many lives as they could, gorge themselves, then burry the rest for later. Left to their own, two furret working together could exterminate an entire colony. Sparks watched the fleeing crowd… but saw no pichu. He didn't see Mia either, which worried him a great deal. Had she been lost in the crowd? He didn't have time to find out. If the pichu were trapped, they didn't have much time. He would have to go inside. At every level of his mind, his instinct screamed for him to turn around. The ferret had taken no measures to mask its scent, or the scent of blood and panic that emanated from the other pikachu. Had the animal attacked at night, it might have silenced the guards and secured the whole colony one chamber at a time… but it had given into its hunger, and because of that, they would be spared. The ground began to clear, the closer he came… and soon, as he reached the entrance itself, he was almost completely alone, save for the retreating backs of the other pikachu as they moved further and further into the forest. They would be back in a few hours, of course… but that would be too late to him, and too late for his daughter.

The entrance to the colony was dark, its walls covered with the many scratch marks the furret had made as it made the entrance large enough for it to use, as well as the trail of blood it had made doing… Alvin didn't want to think about it. As he turned the first corner, Sparks moved with complete caution, expecting the face of the furret. He jumped back in surprise, but not for fear. Another pikachu stood there, looking at him as though she knew perfectly well who would be coming around the bend. She was a female pikachu around his own age, but with an unfamiliar face. She also lacked the look of the well-fed indulgence that the good season had brought to most of the pikachu. Sparks had not over-eaten either, but that had mainly be a product of his age, and not for lack of trying. This pikachu smelled like the colony, though… and in a situation like this, which would have to be enough.

The other pokemon seemed to be thinking along the same lines that he was. "We have to save the pichu! The furret smelled them, they won't have long on their own!" She spat one of his baked clay nuts to the floor, and he could hear the water sloshing around inside. It would take both of them to set it off. The device worked on the most basic principals of pressure and space – the electrical energy applied heated the water, instantly vaporizing it. The clay had to be baked perfectly and flawless… of the twenty Alvin had tried to make, only seven had been made well enough to be of use. The vaporized water would take up enough space within the clay vessel to cause it to expand and violently fly apart. It was mostly a weapon of intimidation… the damage it could do was superficial at best to something as large as a furret, unless detonated as to apply its damage to some vulnerable place… but even larger predators rarely did anything more than instinctual reasoning in situations of risk, so… with any luck, such an explosion would hurt it enough to cause it to flee. It had already obtained more than enough food for itself, so there was a good chance it wouldn't still be motivated to take more lives, if it thought that there was going to be any kind of resistance on the part of its prey.

"Alright… let's go!" Sparks yelled, picking up the nut delicately in his teeth and darting further into the colony burrow. The female followed close behind, ready to do her part when it came. As they wove deeper into the colony, nearly the location of the place the pichu were kept, Sparks became aware of a dim sound, growing louder with every step. It sounded like the discharge of electricity, broken occasionally by screaming. It was not a panicked shout, but the voice of someone calm and determined. "Ready, Pi-CHU!" Pause "It's back! Ready, Pi-CHU!"

Sparks knew that voice… it was Jolte! The pichu chamber had two entrances. One opened onto the surface, carved painstakingly through a large rock, and was only large enough for the smallest pikachu to enter The entrance that connected to the clan burrow was much larger, and it was this the furret was trying to use. As Sparks turned the corner into the long chamber, he saw the figure of the furret on the other side, its face bloody and fur wet. The pichu chamber was black, as well as many patches of the furrett's body. The nursery chamber was almost completely filled with bodies, though none of them had a scratch of attack on them. Every pichu that could stand and move on its own was on its feet, standing in two uneven lines. Jolte was at the lead, one of the smallest in the group… but it was her calling the commands. Many of the pichu had minor burns from their unpracticed use of electrical energy, and some had already collapsed… but the majority of the group was still standing, still fighting.

In a second, all Sparks' questions but one had been answered, and he swelled with pride. Instead of scattered when the furret first entreated the colony, the pichu, who slept at this hour, and woken up, discovered the predator… and put their energy together. That number of pichu was scarcely equal to a group of pikachu with half their number, given how young they were… but it had been enough. They had not defeated the predator, but they had held it off, and because of their efforts, they were still alive. Sparks fully intended to ask why they had not fled using the back entrance, which could not be used by the furret… but that question would have to wait. "Pichu, get back into the nursery, and get away from the entrance!" Sparks called as he dropped the nut onto the ground. The predator turned to face this new threat, leveling its cold eyes on the two pikachu.

For a few seconds, Sparks felt something strange, an emotion he had not felt in a long time. More than a year ago, during his pokemon training, Alvin had encountered a furret about the age of this animal, its body severely burned. He had taken a few days out of his brief summer vacation to nurse the poor creature back to health, tending to its burns with his valuable first aid supplies. When the animal was healthy again, it had remained with him for a time, and Alvin had considered catching it… but Desumo had never liked it. When he traveled, Des was almost always out, which gave maximum opportunity for any sort of conflict. Desumo was trained for combat… but the furret was many times larger, and after a few days, Alvin had lost his ability to hold them apart and the furret attacked Des. When that happened, he knew he could not capture the animal. Alvin had been fond of it… but he demanded a higher standard from his pokemon, which was why he had so few after so long. When it came to battles, they always worked as a group… if they couldn't overcome their instincts enough not to attack each other, then he would not catch them, no matter how favorable they might've otherwise been for one-on-one battles, or for trading or selling. As to that, Alvin had never supported. Many called him a fool for it… but he had always harbored the belief that, when his pokemon were all out enjoying lunch with him, that the sounds they made were more than just instinctual. He had always thought the animals were conversing with each other, on some level he couldn't understand right then. He supposed he knew the truth of that now.

For a few seconds, Sparks remembered a furret he had once liked, and felt a sense of kinship for the beast. Such feelings completely contradicted any common sense his body would have him feel, went against all impressions and instincts of his species… but was there just as strongly, just as real as any other sensation. This animal was attacking his colony! It had killed pikachu… and would kill more! How could he possibly feel anything for it but hatred? He met the creature's eyes... and its expression softened, however briefly. It seemed confused by something it had just noticed, though Sparks was no more privy to what that might be than anyone else. The female pikachu was beside him suddenly, and met his eyes with a most unusual expression. She seemed to be smiling at Sparks, and her eyes cut to the very core. It wasn't a teasing expression, nor one of some kind of mating interest… more the expression of a teacher pleased with a pupil that had just made some remarkable insight. But the moment lasted only that. The creature was not about to be pulled from its rage by a glance. It was charging towards them, squeezing through the tunnel that wasn't quite large enough to hold it. Sparks had little choice. He ducked back around the corner with the female, angling every ounce of energy he could squeeze out of himself at that moment. He felt the female pikachu beside him do the same. Her energy was wild and undirected… but his was true, and hers had been fired at that same moment… as his found a target, so too did hers.

The nut exploded, throwing pieces of clay with amazing force, and filling the chamber with a scorching cloud of steam that obscured all vision. Sparks moved further and further around the corner, watching as the heater water dissipated and condensed, and trying to force the panicked cries of the pichu in the other chamber. When the mists finally cleared, and Sparks darted round the corner into the nursery, the furret was gone. It would kill no more pikachu today. The explosion had scored deep gashes into the soil, and blood pooled in places where the animal had been struck before its flight.

"Nice job Alvin, you did it!" The female called from behind him.

Alvin? Sparks had not heard that name for a long time… he almost did not remember it. After so long in the colony, human memories had faded, frozen, and been forgotten on all sides. He did not remember the names of his parents… and on most days, he had trouble remembering that he had ever been anything else at all. It really didn't matter, for someone in his position. When something happened, that was the way it was, and no pikachu could argue with it. If someone was killed by a predator… you tried to forget about them, because there was nothing you could do about the fact that they were dead. Likewise, when he had come here, and they had learned about his troubled mind… he had been encouraged by all to try and forget about it. You couldn't change the past, they said. They likely hadn't believed him… but in times of plenty, the help that a new member of the clan could give it was not taken lightly. As the days had turned into weeks, and weeks to months, he had all but forgotten his past, and his true nature. His only friend had been captured, Des was lost in the land of who-knows-where… and what had he been? A defenseless pichu with little sense of a past or future. Mia would've come with him… but even if he could've found those rockets, what would he have done? A couple of rodents weren't going to help someone escape, if David had even still been alive. It was impossible to predict what men like that would've done with him. He could only hold onto the vauge hope that someone would come looking for him, or that David could escape on his own. As the time had passed, he had eventually lost any hope. When that was gone, so too was any will to remember. It was better to forget what you could not change. He had a home and family waiting for him, and friends that loved and cared for him… if he did not remember them, then he would not have to feel the pain of knowing they existed. When Alvin had first arrived, his pichu clothing had been taken by the clan's elder… and when Alvin stopped caring, he stopped struggling to get it back. He had evolved only days later. His will alone had stopped him from evolving, and when that broke, so too did Alvin.

Not all memories of his humanity had been erased, though, and his spirit certainly hadn't been. Every day instinct governed him more and more… which was why he had a daughter now. He now knew one of the reasons Mia had been so fond of him, and why she had treated him so well, even at the beginning. They had both been able to tell how close both of them were to evolving.

The brain was an amazing thing. A number of years ago, a group of scientists had performed a series of complicated experiments on several captured pikachu (their genes being the closes to humans for the maintenance cost involved). First, all were trained to be sensitive to lights. There were five. When they flashed in a sequence, the animals would perform certain tasks, and were rewarded with food when they performed them correctly. One at a time, the animals were then taken into complex neurosurgery, and their brains were divided in half, though all control areas intact. The rodents became less adept at learning new things… but forgot none of the sequences of lights, and performed all their tasks with equal precision. The scientists were baffled by this amazing contradiction to what they knew of neuroscience, and the experiment was repeated on the same animals. Their brains were one-forth the size… but for all that, they could perform every bit of the tasks required with no less accuracy, forgot none of their grooming habits, and seemed as sociable as ever. Twice more on the same rodents, until their brains were a fraction of the original size… their learning abilities were impeded enormously… but for all their normal instincts and habits, and all they had done beforehand… they forgot nothing. The experiment became to neuroscience what the nature of light already was to the world of physics, a truly unsolvable mystery. Only one definitive conclusion had been drawn about the nature of memory and the mind. Memory was holographic… that was, the whole was present in every part. The nature of the neural network remained a great mystery, and likely would for some time more.

Alvin had forgotten much of everything. Some days, he remembered his name, and he remembered reading alone in his room, playing with Des, or learning a new song on the piano… other days, he thought only of what he would eat next, and what Jolte had next to learn. His mind had fragmented… but it was all there, however deeply buried. It had just happened that his dreams brought up some of those old memories, sometimes with most disturbing results. But… as the other said his name, his true name… he remembered it at once, and, for however brief an instant, remembered who he was. He remembered his time in school, he remembered his training with des, his family, their house in the suburbs… and how he had come to be here. He didn't belong! David had been captured, he had to be rescued! What about Des? He didn't belong with pikachu!

But, as he turned to face the female… the thought began to fade, vanishing into the swirling mists of the either within his mind… and when he met the place where she should've been… where he had felt her only moments before… he found only empty space, and an empty hallway on both sides of him. The pichu rushed over to him from the nursery, and he felt their throng of little bodies pressing to him, thanking him, and crying for their parents… and his aid was nowhere in sight. Had she darted away into an adjoining cavern to see if her own relations had been spared? Sparks would never know. The wails of twenty pichu were soon the only thing he heard… and he had to worry about the young before he could deal with his own mysteries. By the time he had settled the young down, done all that he could for the injured ones, and got them all back to sleep, in preperation for the time the rest of the colony would return… he had all but forgotten about what the female had said, and why it had been so remarkable. It was good just to be alive.

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Well, that's my first attempt at writing here for quite some time. I've still been trying to keep up and active with the community of the Forum (though we've moved much of what we do off of , send me a PM if you're interested). As for my plans for this work, I had thought originally that I was going to post a chapter or two and then be done with it… as it stands; I see two or three chapters more, as well as a short epilogue. I may need to increase my usual length to keep things within those chapters… but I have no intent of forcing the story to end, or drawing things to any unsatisfactory conclusion. I fully intend to finish the story the way Alvin intended it to be told, and that I will do.

I will not wait another year before a chapter, of that I am quite sure. The AP exams are coming up though, so I will not be able to post again before about the fifteenth of next month. With any luck, I'll get enough reviews under my belt between now and then to encourage me to do it. I am sorry to all those that I kept waiting. I truly had no intention of doing that… and I have no intention of keeping you waiting any longer. This story needs its conclusion, and I intend to give it one… no matter how long that takes.


	19. Dissident Sociology

Chapter 19: Dissident Sociology

A/N: That's right, MM is up and running again! Not much to say here... only that... things WILL be regular for the next week. One update every week, I can promise it. I've made sure this time. This story will have either 22 or 23 chapters, can't say I know for sure yet. That depends on how long the epilogue turns out to be... can't say I know on that yet. As always, it's your reviews that make this story worthwhile, and I'm happy to hear anything. I'm sorry if I've been a little bad about responding to the last review or two, but you can be sure that will change now. If anyone has any questions or comments and there's something I can say, I promise I will. But now... to the story!

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The colony was sizable, as colonies went, and required a fairly consistent water-supply. Even this late in the season, the pond was fed by a few smaller streams, and though the frozen runoff no longer flooded the banks, it was still more than enough to keep the pond well-supplied with water, despite the number of Pokemon that made use of it. Alvin was alone now though, the sun only just beginning to set. As they always did, the scattered pikachu had returned within a few hours to survey the damage to the colony, to pick up the pieces and go back to their lives. Two pikachu had been killed in the panic, when they first made their flight, as well as a pichu who's self-inflicted wounds from electrical discharge had been too much for its little immune system to handle. Such a painful thing it had been for Alvin, to kneel over the small, crumpled creature, its body spotted with sweat and covered in deep, black burns. "M-om?" It had mumbled, as Alvin knelt down beside it. Alvin shook his head, and the creature's face fell... but he was too weak to cry, hardly even strong enough to breathe.

"N-no..." Alvin felt the beginning of tears, but held them back. He had seen enough burns during his life here that he knew this pichu was already dead. There was nothing they could do for him. It wasn't fair! The poor creature deserved to have its mother during its last moments of life... and he shouldn't have to watch this! Hadn't he just saved the lot of them? The poor creature's pain was nye unbearable, and Alvin was no telepath.

"I-it... hurts..." The pichu squeaked, trying to struggle to its feet. It fell back into a heap, moaning faintly in pain.

"No... no, don't move... it'll be fine... it will be okay, don't worry..." He lied, his own eyes watering now. The other pichu huddled in closer to watch, Volte occasionally move to push them back, her gestures weak, tired, almost without any expended effort. Some of the pichu here were too young to know what had happened... she was not so lucky. "Just... lie still... you'll feel better soon... I promise..."

In that at least, Alvin had not lied. The poor creature did not last into five minutes more. Volte did her best to comfort the other pichu, to aid those with small burns with the medicinal salves and poultices her father had stored in his den, and saw about getting the others food, taking charge of the near-empty colony while Sparks carried the dead pichu far from the colony... as far as he could drag it, and as far as he dared... before running back to the colony as fast as he could, stopping only long enough to wash the poor creature's blood from his body. No more had been overcome by their wounds, when he arrived... two were seriously wounded, but both would survive. He'd saved Volte... and all the other pichu of the colony, beside.

Well, not just him... the other female... wherever she had gone... had been just as instrumental, and had saved him a trip to his own room first, meaning he got to the pichu that much quicker... and his daughter had kept the pichu safe long enough for him to arrive to rescue them. So there had been three heros today... so what? This frustrated Alvin even more, in a way he had not felt in many days. Why did pikachu scatter like this? Didn't the colony realize that if they had stuck together... if, instead of panicking, everyone ran to the colony, everyone worked together...their combined energy was more than a match for all solitary predators? Three had died today as a result of that predator, and none of those deaths were necessary. They all could have been prevented with a bit more planning!

But more than ever, Alvin knew the sore truth on that. His species did not plan, they did not prepare. What was important was the now, the keeping safe, the self... everything else was optional. You couldn't risk your own life protecting others... it was too dangerous! "CHU!" The force of his energetic blast struck one of several berries he'd already thrown into the water, floating silently towards the center of the pond, causing it to explode in a shower of red juice and flesh and sink from sight. Alvin stood on his hind legs, breathing heavy, eyes locked on the spot where the berry had been moments before. "This is wrong... WRONG!" The pikachu yelled, glaring up and around the pond, face completely stripped of fear despite the failing light, despite how dangerous it was to be from the colony at this time. Just now... he almost didn't care if he was seriously injured or killed, didn't care what happened to him... it was lost, all lost. His life, his HUMAN life. How long had it been? How many years had passed in these few seasons? Did his family even remember him? He didn't belong here, nor his daughter. "I shouldn't be HERE! I don't want to BE here!" He shouted, exploding another few of the floating berries with his anger. But aside from the fruit, no one was listening... no one ever was.

As the elder returned with the rest of the colony, amazed to hear of how the pichu had been saved, coming in on all sides to congratulate Sparks, to give him their greatest gratitude, particularly those females still nursing young pichu. Sparks was a hero yet again, and once again permitted to eat an entire apple alongside the colony's elder in an almost ceremonial meal of gratitude. He had eaten... or done his best... but the fruit no longer sated him. The fruit had bee bright red, freshly picked, and as juicy as the colony had to offer, but even so, had seemed to turn to ash in Alvin's mouth. He met every gesture of thanks with a nod, every kind word with a smile, but inside... he knew more than ever before what he should've known a year ago: he did not belong.

When he had first arrived, the others in the colony had kept him here, resisted his attempts to escape, always tracking him and bringing him back, for his own protection. He had kept trying until their reasoning had sunk in... until he realized that they were right, that there was nowhere to go , and that this was the safest place he could possibly be. Eventually he had stopped trying to run, and they had stopped preventing him. He shouldn't have stopped! He should've tried harder, tried better... died trying!

Sparks fell backward onto all fours at the water's edge, sighing deeply. There was no point wasting time with that he hadn't done. A better way to spend his time would be to figure out what he should do... but what was that? He wasn't even on the right continent, he couldn't walk home, and he had no money, nor means of buying transport... and he wasn't sure he would be able to figure out a way back, even if he could. Beyond that... David! He couldn't forget about his best friend! He didn't know where he was or how to find him, or how he might've gotten there... he couldn't forget about him! But... what could he do? Pikachu were neither strong nor forceful. He couldn't find David... couldn't fight off whatever forces might be guarding him... he just couldn't! The pikachu turned, fixes his eyes on the semi-reflective crystal at his side. The object had been waiting for him in his and Mia's chamber, in place of the missing (for lack of a better word) explosives they had used to fight off the furret. Two elongated pyramids formed the stretched diamond, with eight sides, roughly an inch long and easy enough to carry if he dragged... showing no teeth-marks or cracks when he did so, though it did have a bit of a salty taste... and in the center was a large bubble of air. Why this? Of all the things that could've been left for him, she picked some useless stone? "No!" Alvin screamed again, this time kicking the useless stone into the pond, where it sunk with a splash beneath the surface. The pikachu turned, fuming as he stormed away from the pond, emotions high... but scarcely made it three paces when he froze, dead in his tracks, ears perked high, quivering in the light breeze.

The words were english, echoing back from the pond, its surface not broken with a thousand tiny ripples. Not just words... the sound of musical instruments, faint, but in great numbers, drifted across the meadow to his ears, and he turned in awe to listen. Even after more than a year in this body, Alvin still remembered the words precisely, remembered the exact tune and melody instantly. The Aria of Dido's Lament played faintly throughout the entire meadow, echoing outward from the pond, and startling several piggy in a tree above, who took flight at once in a terrified blur.

There were two who ran forward instead of back, though. Mia and Volte skidded to a halt beside Sparks at the edge of the pond, Volte's eyes were wide, but not with fear, as she surveyed the pond, the ripples that now danced along its surface, as well as the face of her father, who's expression was now utterly pensive. Mia tried her best to ignore the strange, rhythmic sound of a single human voice, moving beside her mate to comfort him and express her affection to him, licking a little at the side of his face. Sparks seemed to notice her as little as she did the music, staring with as much intensity into the water as did his daughter, who's eyes flickered away from the pond to rest on her father, than back again. "Sparks... what's this sound?"

The volume of the opera was slowly fading, the ripples dying... the pikachu did not speak until they had died completely, eyes still fixed on the water, who's reflection was almost all black, by now, the sun nearly set. "It's called music, Volte. Humans make it."

"Can you make more, Sparks? It was pretty!"

The pikachu shook his head, ears and tail drooping in perfect harmony.

"Were those sounds... words?"

Sparks nodded, expression building in dread, in embarrassment, with every passing second. "Yes. Words in the human language."

Volte looked away from the water, turning to properly face her father. "What did they say?" Her tone, as it always was, bore perfect innocence layered with curiosity and intelligence, far more than you would expect from most pikachu, let alone a child.

It was enough to break Alvin's heart. "It's... it said..." Sparks spent several moments thinking hard, trying to piece together what he remembered as the words into words Volte would understand. "It's supposed to be sung... I can't do it... right, but... it said... Remember me, remember me, but ah! forget my fate."

Volte's expression fell nearly to match her father's and she turned to look at the water again. Mia, too confused by this strange exchange to really say anything, merely stepped away from Sparks, grooming herself. Sparks occasionally got into moods like this... it seemed, to her dismay, that yet another had arrived. "You understand it?"

Sparks nodded, glancing once to the sky, then back to his daughter.

"You were human once, weren't you?"

The words were slight, spoken carefully and quietly, but hit Alvin with greater weight than anything his daughter had ever said, with greater intensity than a passing vehicle, more shocking than his first interment in a pokeball. He answered with a nod, although his bewilderment and shock were both abundantly obvious. How'd she figured that out? He hadn't told anyone other than Mia! "Y-ou... you guessed that?"

It was Volte's turn to nod, glancing once to her mother. before leaning in close to speak, doing her best to keep out of her mother's hearing. "We've always been... odd." She whispered, as though the word were foul, as though she feared her mother might reprimand her for it. Mia didn't seem to notice, though, and she went on. "You... you and me... you act differently than the other pikachu males... you only mate with one female, even though so many wanted to, after the way you fought off that umbreon two turns ago..." The pichu paused, giving her words a little time to sink in. "The way you make things... whenever someone gets sick, you don't just... you're never just sad, you're always doing things, making things to try and make them better..." The pichu bent close to the earth, picking up a rounded clay object with her teeth, dropping it at Alvin's feet. Another one of his baked explosives. "You're always making things. New ways to bring water, or keep us safe... you thought to take the old apples away from the new ones, and thought to dry pieces of fruit in the sun to let us keep them longer... that circle of stones you make around fires to stop them from burning anything else... you're always making things. No one else does that... they thought to bring food to store, and to not eat too much at once... but nothing else. All those other things... those sticks which bring water from the pond to the colony, the way to make dirt that doesn't break easily by mixing it with water and drying it... different. And the way to talk about humans... you knew about that trainer, you knew about that strange ball he carried with him... you knew how to make him go away. And now... you understand their language and know about the sounds they make? No pikachu should be able to know that... and you're not old like the others, you've only been a pikachu for a few turns of the..." Volte trailed off, and fixed her eyes as the pikachu already had, on the figure coming just over the hill. Volte did not recognize it, but Alvin did... and while the other two moved almost instinctively to flee, but Sparks held steady... and in seeing his face, Volte stopped too, calling for Mia to do the same. Coming down over the hill towards them was a pikachu female about Sparks's age, moving slowly and purposefully down the hill, with a lumpy, malformed something in her mouth. As she moved closer, close enough to see in the fading light, it was clear she had friendly intent, though her appearance was unknown to all but Alvin.

She stopped a few inches from Sparks, sliding onto her hind legs and dropping what she held at the other pikachu's feet. By now Mia had forgotten these objects, but Sparks still remembered them clearly. His goggles and bandana, as blue and vibrant as they day he had set out. But how had she...

"How I got them isn't important." The female said, as though answering his unspoken question. "But they're yours. You might be too big... but your daughter isn't. Here..." Volte stood, dumbfounded, as the strange new female, who smelled like the colony but looked completely unfamiliar, secured the goggles, the bandana, with more dexterity than she had thought possible from pikachu paws. She took only moments, securing the goggles and tying off the bandana. They felt a little strange, constantly touching her body, but... the scent was enough to calm her... they smelled like her father, only... younger.

"What's the point of taking these?" Sparks asked, his eyes again vibrant with anger which he was obviously trying to suppress, albeit doing a fairly poor job. "We're still stuck here. Even if we weren't home... she's still stuck like this... and so am I." He almost didn't care what this strange female was doing here, almost didn't care how she knew all this, how she had stolen his things back... it didn't matter. As important as those details were, they were completely irrelevant to him. What were a few scratches when you had internal bleeding?

The female sighed, a light, almost musical sound. As quickly as she had come, she was turning to leave. "If you want to stay that badly, I shouldn't have bothered you... I'm sorry..."

If she had been expecting her remark to calm Alvin, she was sorely mistaken. "/Want/ to stay? Do you have any idea what it's like? Any at all? To lose your family... to lose your species, your identity... to forget what you were? I don't know... why things have changed... recently, but... it doesn't matter! I nearly forgot who I was! Forgot what I was! My best friend is missing, my family is out of my reach! Do you have any idea what that feels like?" The male was on his hind legs too, shouting and bellowing as he never had done.

Mia, who had moved behind him to comfort him, as before, backed off a little, expression fearful. She had never seen this from her mate before... Sparks never got mad like this!

To his great surprise, the female turned around again, stood up again, only inches away... and nodded, bold as you please. Like all pikachu females, she was several inches shorter and weaker than he was... and with any other male, behavior like this likely would've earned her a fairly severe blow.

Alvin was not any other male. Even at his angriest, he could not bring himself to touch her. Quite the opposite... she understood? she knew what it was like to lose a family? To lose who you were? It would at least explain how she had so easily understood the situation during the attack, why she hadn't run... and begin to explain how she had obtained this stuff, but...

"I've never had things as hard as you." She reluctantly admitted, not meeting his eyes for the first time since she had appeared during that attack, showing the first signs of nervous apprehension that Alvin had ever heard from her. "I chose what happened to me... you had your fate chosen for you. I'll never know what that was like. I'll never know what it's like to forget what I used to be..." She trailed off, sliding back onto all fours, ears falling flat. "But it isn't important. You're still in there, Alvin. You only needed a little help to... remember, was all."

The male also returned to fall fours, eyes and expression becoming as blank as they had before the pond. Helped? All those months of strange dreams, all those memories coming back... had that been her? Stealing a pair of goggles was one thing, but digging up old memories was quite another. He had once heard the brain compared to a hologram, that no matter how small it became, no matter how many times you chopped it up, you could not erase what had been learned before it was damaged, only make it harder and harder to remember, and to remember new things. He supposed that all of his memories were still there somewhere, that all of who he was might still be in his head... if he could just reach it. Humanity was worse than a memory, now... like an echo, the memory of a dream, fading as easily as dreams did when you woke. If this female left again... he would forget again... he would be back to where he had been, as lost as he had spent the last year! "Pl-please...I... need... y-you..."

The female pikachu smiled a little. Were it not for the vast weight of the intelligence behind those eyes, a warmth so bright Alvin could practically feel it, one might suspect he were trying to take another mate. Were not Mia still too afraid to say anything, she probably would've protested right about now... hadn't Sparks always said she was the only one he cared about? The only mate he would ever have? Hadn't he turned down the other females again and again? But the female seemed to know what Alvin meant, and Volte too, because she showed no signs of the sudden indignant expression Mia had. "I know. But David needs you... he needs us both. You're running out of time, and so is he... we've got to go. You can't stay any longer... vacation is over, Mr. Tucker."

If he hadn't already been so shocked, so out of his element, Alvin probably would've become angry again, at a remark like this. Vacation? This had been the most difficult time of his life! Without worry, without care... maybe, but only because he had forgotten how. He sure remembered now, though. He would never forget... never let himself forget again! He couldn't, couldn't!

"Your daughter never will, I'm sorry to admit." The female paced past Alvin, pausing to sniff at Volte, expression a mixture of amusement and pity. She leaned in closer to the pichu, and for her ears alone "Time heals our wounds, but it can't change our nature. We are what we are." Volte's expression was utterly confused. She would be, for some time to come. Only with time would she ever understand those words.

"It's too late to travel now..." The female went on, glancing to the other two pikachu and the younger pichu, frowning a little. "Your scents will attract predators. I've already made sure this area is safe... we can sleep here for the night. There's nothing to worry about... but if you go back to the colony, we may have trouble getting you out again."

Sparks nodded. It went against all his instincts to sleep here, out in the open, like this... but something about this creature, something he couldn't quite put his finger on, told him without doubt that he could trust her.

His mate felt the same thing, but... the other female's words until now had meant little to her... now, though, she understood perfectly. "You're going to leave, Sparks?" She asked, tone hurt, almost betrayed. "You're going to leave Volte and me for some weird female with lots of words? Forget about us?" She was crying now... if pikachu could truly cry.

"No!" There wasn't a trace of hesitation from Alvin, not an instant. He pawed the few steps to his mate, nuzzling her. He still cared for Mia! She'd been with him from the very beginning, taking care of him when he was younger, traveling with him when they had both been small... and now, after all that... "I'd never abandon you! You can come with me... away from the colony... back to my home, my real one, the one I told you about before we came here, the one I wanted to go back to with David..." He turned, glancing back to the other female. "That is where we're going, isn't it?"

"Mt. Moon first." The female turned away, mildly disinterested, as she surveyed the nearby area, collecting mosses and soft leaves for bedding. For the first time, it seemed as though she was acting like an ordinary pikachu female, preparing a bed for them as any pikachu female could be expected to be.

Mt. Moon? Wasn't that where... the device was supposed to be? The thing that would make him human again? Could things really go back to the way they had been? Would he really make it out of this alive? Would he really go home?

By now, the glade was beginning to quiet... the light breeze dying, the swaying of the undergrowth slowly stilling, the sound of daytime birds replaced with the nighttime activities of the bug pokemon, and larger things Alvin did not care much to imagine. The day's dry air was starting to dampen and cool... it would soon be quite chilly. Pikachu always slept in the colonies... it was too cold, too uncomfortable outside, even in summer.

But... if he was going to... to have a shot at being human again... then Mia deserved to know. Maybe she would be happier here... even after all this, Sparks still loved her, still cared about her... but if he was going to be human again... Mia simply was not human, and could never be. The body of a pokemon might weaken the mind, but it could never work both ways. Even if it were possible, she could never be happy that way, never feel comfortable. Pokemon were, by nature, instinctual creatures, not beings of invention or thought or reason. Living as a human being would be misery for her, even if it were possible. Perhaps the best thing for Alvin was not the best thing for Mia... even if she could come back with him... he couldn't be her mate proper again. Not thinking like this, he couldn't... it felt wrong, horribly wrong, the idea of being her mate again! Pokemon were... as innocent and carefree as human children, and he had been no less so before... but now was different. He did not intend to forget who he was again. He wouldn't let it happen, he would die first! What would he do, take Mia back as a pet? That didn't feel right either. Mia was a wild animal! She deserved more than being locked inside of his home all day, deserved more than his menial attention. Perhaps it was simply better if she didn't remember him at all... found a new mate, when back to the way it was... "If you come back with me... I'll be your friend, but... I can't be your mate anymore. Not the way I was before, Mia... I have to be different. You... you can stay if you want to. The colony will still accept you, even without me... you can make sure no one ever forgets how to use the things I made, and you can get a new mate... I won't fight him, I won't hurt you... if you want to leave... I won't stop you..."

Mia looked up from her mate, expression more hurt than it had ever been, more fearful than when Alvin had been upset, more unsure. Gone? Be different? Not her mate anymore? The thought was so strange, so unusual, so hard for her to even imagine. She could just leave, and get a new male? He wouldn't fight her... didn't he know her better than that? Didn't Sparks remember that it was because he was so different than all the other males that she liked him so much? She didn't want another male, she wanted Sparks! "I... I'm not leaving you!" She moved close to him, moving to Alvin's side, as though she were going to groom him, as she often did, as a show of affection. The male did not stop her, though his expression was... almost hurt. She didn't understand, he knew. Worse, he knew she never would. It was not within her capacity to understand. She simply wasn't human.

"A-and... me?" Volte squeaked, no longer silent as she had been during the exchange until then, no longer motionless, surveying the costume she wore, or tugging at the end of the bandana.

"You can stay if you want, Volte..." Sparks said, turning to face his daughter. What would become of her? Would she be able to be human, if they could find the thing to change him back? She was very different than her mother... she had railed the other pichu, instead of running... and figured out on her own what Alvin had been before. Much smarter than any other pichu, much cleverer than any pokemon... maybe she could he human. That probably meant that Alvin would be raising her alone, and... just how old would he be? He had been fifteen when he changed... how old was he now? How old was she? It would be a strange experience for the lot of them... getting government records for her, if he succeeded, was going to be hell. What would his family think about him? Would they push him away for his lack of control, or pity him the way they would an injured pokemon? Alvin didn't care. He loved Volte as deeply as he did Mia... but in a much more human way. He wanted the best for her... if humanity was possible for her, he would do the best to ensure it, if not...

"I-If I want?" In an instant, the pichu had scurried over to her father, her parents, pulling the three of them together in a tight hug. Daddy was so smart, he was always figuring things out, so special... she wanted to be special too! More than just that... she wanted to know! Could humans tell her why the old pikachus died? Could humans tell her why some plants could be eaten, and some made her sick? Could they explain why water put out fire, but made electricity more easily conducted? Mia knew little of these things, and her awareness of her lack of knowledge was quite accute. She wanted to know those things, she did! Her father had built amazing tools, she knew... she had seen them... but the trainer had brought far more powerful ones, the ball that could capture a pokemon, and the talking red box... she wanted to know how those tools worked! At first, she had simply called them magic, that they worked the same way pikachu electricity worked... but her father would not hear of it.

"No!" He had said, quite adamantly, when she said that she thought they must be magic, when she had said that only magic could explain wonders like that. "It's not magic, Volte..." Sparks had explained. "They're powerful tools. The only magic they use is called the semi-conductor. It's... it..." The pikachu trailed off, obviously thinking hard.

"Semi-conductor?" Volte had heard those words, just never together like that. Conductors could transport electricity... if you shocked a metal, and something was metal, it would conduct the energy... all electrical pokemon knew that! And semi meant... half? How could something half conduct? "What's that?"

Sparks had thought about it for several minutes, but despite his best efforts... he couldn't remember. He didn't even remember that he had said the word, or where the word had come from. It had just... popped... into his head. The next moment, it had been gone, and he remembered nothing.

"I'm staying with you guys! I want to go to the human world! I want to learn!" She had friends here, she had those she admired, and even a male pichu or two she fancied. The colony was her home... but if she could return a year or more later with more knowledge, and be able to help it the way that Sparks always did... then she would be doing her part, would she not? If she couldn't come back... if they could make her human to, or even if she couldn't... if something kept her from returning... she would do her part to see and make sure things were better for pokemon everywhere. She would try to come back... but even if she couldn't... her real home was wherever her family was. It would be a sad thing not to see the others again, but... that thought was secondary at best.

Alvin would've been a liar to say he hadn't expected this. In every meaningful way, Volte was his daughter, and ten thousand times more like her father than she was her mother. Pikachu were nice, but intelligence... answers... were far better. In a way, she had been as human as he was, and as things progressed, just as often moreso. Sparks smiled, surveying Volte in her new costume, and the ever-familiar scents it bore. Des... his own pichu body... even the vanilla scented candles his mother had always... of course, none of those scents should be there. After a year in the wild, it should've smelled like nothing but dirt, but... Alvin didn't care how or what or why it smelled the way it did. He was... tired, so tired, eager to get going... and upset about leaving his home of what felt like years. It was hard to remember a time when he hadn't lived in the colony, hard to remember a time he hadn't been doing this or that, giving this advise or helping this pichu or that... but over the last few days, he had also remembered so much more. He had remembered his family, remembered school and the way he never had to worry about what food to eat, or weather the next bush might contain something that wanted to eat him. Living like that felt almost like fantasy to the larger part of the brain, and a great deal of him still did not believe such a life was possible... but he remembered David. He remembered the times David had showed him his telepathic abilities, he remembered being connected... if that were possible, to touch minds with someone through skull, and through intention... to know what someone was thinking, then how much more difficult was it to live without fear of preditation? As Alvin curled up beside the other pikachu to sleep, slightly turning at the little bed of mosses and leaves the new pikachu female had made, he hoped very much he would find out.


	20. Recurring Revelation

Chapter 20: Recurring Revelation

A/N: Well, another week, another chapter. See, I kept my promise! I fully intend to keep going this way... I mean... to keep my regular update schedule of one a week. At the rate things are looking... this story has two chapters and then an epilogue, which should be about a chapter long as well. I'm taking that home stretch now... that last hurrah before the time finally comes to seal this book for good and put two covers on what I've written.

As things come to a close, I don't know weather to be upset or sad. No more Alvin? No more David, and no more pokemon? It's a strange feeling. But then... not so. There's always the skype community (anyone interested feel free to contact me), surviving even after the early days of this place. It's just a chat room, so don't be scared of it, we don't actually use the voice features, or anything. There's also the forums (not the ones on here) which could always use a new roleplayer or two.

I guess things aren't quite over... but this is the last march. As for the future... I've got a few tentative ideas in my head, short oneshots involving characters from this story in future times... dangerous times... and I think I'm going to finish some writing I did off-site, as well. There's no pokemon in any of that, and some of it is... a bit different than this, but I do try to maintain my style there as well. Just a bit of a plug before the actual story begins. Thanks to everyone who reviews... as always, it's you guys that keep me going. I hope to hear your opinions on this, when you finish reading... these chapters promise to be far more eventful than the "preparing to leave" chapter that the last one was... there's a great deal more "event" and less "thinking" on the road ahead. But... why not just find that out for yourself?

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The morning came too soon for Alvin and the other pikachu. As it turned out, sleeping outside, even in the cold, was not as difficult as he had been brought to believe. The wind had seemed to bite at him before, even while standing in the glade... but when he actually lay down beside Mia and Volte and the newcomer, as Pikachu and their kin always did, thing had seemed much calmer. The wind didn't seem to bother him, and even sleeping on the outside, the cold just hadn't penitrtated deep enough. Perhaps he was just well-adapted for living in the wild, or... perhaps this strange new female had more tricks than changing scents, more tricks than stealing clothes and vanishing whenever she didn't want to be seen. Alvin stood, shaking himself out in the dawn light, and stretching a little. His mate stirred beside him, though Volte remained asleep. He would not disturb her until he absolutely had to... perhaps she would wake up a bit more rested than he had. "I... didn't ask your name, yesterday... I forgot during the attack, but now..."

The new female, who had seemed content to sit in a little corner of the glade at the base of the big tree, cleaning herself, looked up, obviously perplexed. She seemed to consider something, and for the first time, her expression showed traces of doubt. Alvin had become very proficent at reading pikachu expressions, after all... but the signs seemed to die soon enough. "I... I don't think... he... would... I don't think that's really all that important, I mean... we've got thing hard enough as it-" She stopped the grooming, returning to her feet, and approaching Alvin, as though she were looking him over for electronic sensors. After a few moments of surveying him, she seemed satisfied, and tried to smile. "Avery. Logan Avery. Or just Logan, if you like. Dad always..."

Avery? Something sounded familiar about that name... but Logan did not get a chance to finish, and Alvin scarcely had time to register what she had said... before he noticed they were suddenly not alone. Pikachu were generally not the cleverest of beasts... but this little group, about seven strong, including both of the clan's raichu, had managed to sneak up and surround them. One moment, they were alone, and the next, practically swarmed by Pikachu. Alvin, and it seemed this Logan as well, had both been fairly groggy... and had thus missed the signs of company until they were too late.

The rodents did not seem angry... if anything, they seemed worried, scared. Two had already taken hold of Volte, one was ushering Mia to join the group near the tree, and the two raichu had stepped up, as bravely as they seemed to be able to muster, to the thin figure of Logan, standing in between Alvin and his newfound ally. "You are not welcome here!" The colony's elder said, obviously struggling to muster his own courage, let alone those of his fellows. Indeed, Alvin felt several pairs of paws, pulling him away from the female, closer to the rest of his family and farther from this newcomer. He struggled, but Alvin had never been large or strong... and they moved him almost without effort. "You will not lead Sparks away again, purple demon! You are not welcome here!" The elder charged his cheeks with sparks, and the other raichu did the same, growling a low "CHUUU" which spoke more than words ever could.

Purple... demon... a ditto? That was what the words meant, anyway... Alvin continued to thrash, and in a sudden burst of luck and electricity, had escaped his assailants, a Chu named Charge, darting to rejoin Logan, standing boldly on his hind legs before he elder and his firstborn son. Voltage, as he was so named, frowned visibly, tilting his head lightly to the left as an obvious sign to Alvin to get down, get out of the way. Voltage and Sparks had been good friends for some time, nearly as long as Sparks had been a part of this colony. He had arrived a pichu, about the same age as the firstborn of the elder, Voltage. They had lived together alongside the other pichu... and as the weeks progressed, Voltage found he was more likely to sleep somewhere warm and had plenty to eat while he maintained Alvin's company. Like his father, he was quite willful and dominating... but Sparks was still plenty human enough to know that it was far better to be submissive and remain the unspoken intellectual victor in the tilt. Sparks knew little of the rules when he arrived... it was often Voltage alone who stood between Alvin and a good beating, often promising to take his father's place in the duty... which worked out well for both of them. Voltage got to show his father how strong he was, how good a chu he would make for elder, and Sparks avoided serious injury. Even now, that they had both grown, both mated... they had stayed close friends.

"Sparks!" The elder hissed, his eyes narrowing on the younger pikachu. "You're not in your right mind! The purple demon has many tricks! She wants to lead you away and eat you! Get away from her!" The sparks dancing along the elder's cheeks increased dramatically in their frequency. He obviously had little intention of holding back for long, weather or not one of his clan pikachu were in the way. Charge halted in his pursuit just behind the elder, expression suddenly filling again with fear. Logan appeared to command a fearsome reputation among these chu... strong enough, as of yet, to hold them back.

But what was his elder talking about? Human or not, he trusted this chu a great deal, if only because such trust had been forced into him with physical abuse. The elder had exercised total dominion over his colony, and had little compassion on deserters like Sparks had been, even as a pichu... but this was as much from a desire to maintain his colony as a true and genuine worry for those under his control. He had always wanted the best for Sparks and the others, no matter how he showed it. Despite all she had said, this new female had done little to earn his trust, hadn't she? Yes, she spoke of helping David, she spoke of making him human again, and of the place he had wanted to go... but how was Alvin supposed to know that she had been the one who had helped him get closer in mind? The stories of the purple demon did say that they sometimes became that psychic fox and stalked you until they knew what you cared about, then came and claimed to come and help you achieve it... and when you followed them, they would take you to their dens and eat you. They were all very terrifying stories, but mostly just stories. Such a creature had not been reputed to have been seen as long as Alvin could remember. But pikachu did go missing all the time.. that was living as a prey animal was all about. It was more than possible such creatures had led off at least a few pikachu.

Had it not been for the name, Alvin probably would've believed the elder. For several long moments he shuffled closer to the raichu and father from the small, seemingly defenseless female, and both raichu seemed to relax a little. But as he moved, a memory floated suddenly to the surface, more vividly than any human memory he'd experienced since that dream.

"...they still don't know what happened to her. Police called off the investigation two weeks ago, couldn't turn any new leads."

Alvin stretched his legs out before him on the bench, intent as much of the starry sky above as the popsicle he held in his hand, slowly melting away. "You said she's one of yours? Just walked away?" By 'One of yours', Alvin obviously intended to ask if she were a telepath. Such people often thought of themselves as slightly more or slightly better than the average. David never acted this way... but many did.

The other boy nodded. "So her sister tells me. Got in a big fight with her father and ran off... didn't come back. Police found her belongings halfway across the continent, but the never turned up a trace of the girl."

"Think its another one of those crime syndicates at work?" Alvin asked, almost ruefully. "Rocket kidnapping telepaths for some sort of experimental project? Goodness knows, all that money they'd been putting into stem cells had to be going somewhere by now."

David tried to smile at his friend's attempt at humor, but did not seem convinced. "I don't know about that. The Averys are some of the best I've ever known... Logan herself was Sabrina's cousin, on her mother's side... I can't imagine anyone, armed or not, taking one of them away. 'Course, she isn't the first... we lost five telepaths last year, more than any other year we can remember. Some just up and vanished, some signed onto jobs elsewhere and never wrote home... I don't know what's going on, but I don't like it." David tossed the little wooden stick that'd been his popsicle sideways into the trash can, using a little burst of blue energy to guide it the rest of the way. For a long time, the pair simply say there, silent on David's front porch, watching the stars. The night was clear, the clearest that whole summer. A fitting way to end things.

"You think school'll be hard next year?"

For some time, David didn't answer, eyes affixed on some point high above, one of those few points obscured by clouds. "Isn't it always? Let's try not to think about it... we've got ten whole hours before we've got to be there, right? Might as well enjoy them..."

As the memory faded, and Alvin's paws returned to solid ground... all four of them... he blinked, staring blankly up at the elder. He... remembered who Logan was? At least... as much as he had ever known about that name. He had already suspected this pikachu had been human once... now he was absolutely sure of it. Even if she was truly a ditto, not a possibility he was entirely willing to ignore... she would not eat him. He knew it as plainly as he knew that his fur was yellow, or that the eldest was about to shock him for what he was doing. "No!" Alvin shouted, voice suddenly resolute. Several feet away, Volte inhaled sharply, and Mia covered the pichu's eyes with one paw. "Logan doesn't want to eat me! She's helping me... helping me escape!"

As it turned out, Alvin was half right. The raichu's face suddenly swelled with fury, sparks lighting the ground for several feet around, and starting several small fires in the underbrush which the other pikachu quickly worked to extinguish. The elder set his signs on Sparks, momentarily ignoring the female altogether, leaning back on his back legs to deliver a powerful blast of energy... but in never came. Seconds later, the raichu had rocked back onto all fours and scurried slowly away. The crowded clearing returned to its previous silence, with only the slightly burned and trampled patches of grass here or there to shown any signs that anyone other than its night-time occupants had been there at all.

Logan, who had seemed perfectly content to merely stand on her rear legs and watch, seemed suddenly anxious. "They think you've left with them... when they get back to the colony, they're realize you're still here... we better get moving."

Volte was instantly at her father's side, looking up with wide, confused eyes. "Are you... s-sure we should be doing this?" She asked, speaking for his ears alone. "The elder said..." Volte trailed off, sounding worried. "And... our home... do you really think we should... leave?"

At the very least, Sparks understood her concerns, and shared them. The colony had been there home for the pikachu equivalent of several years. They had many friends and companions in the colony. They had helped build it, and on occasion, helped defend it. Alvin remembered his human life... parts of it, anyway, but the colony was all Volte had ever known. Alvin might only have the shadow of a dream to remember the human world by, but Volte had nothing. It seemed to make perfect sense that she would be apprehensive about leaving. The Elder had made some pretty high accusations. Still, Alvin had made his decision. Living here without a care, without concern for the future and hardly noticing the present, had been a kind of vacation... and tempting as it was to return... it was not a choice he could possibly make while memory of the human world persisted. Just as he had during the time he traveled with David, he knew exactly what to do. "You don't have to. If you wish to stay, I'm sure Mia would do so as well... you could like here, and forget about me... but I owe my friend a rescue. By the looks of things, I'm going to try to get my human body back before I try and rescue him, but either way... it might be dangerous. I owe it to my family, I owe it to David... but you don't. You could stay... the colony will keep you safe."

Volte did not seemed pleased by this answer, her back arching a little and expression falling. "You mean like they did yesterday?" Alvin had said the magic words. "If you have to save your friend... then I want to help! The colony can't protect us. I don't want to live somewhere where the only protection is our numbers."

Sparks nodded, then turned to Logan. "All right... we're ready." He said, returning to all fours. "Show us the way."

In its full length, travel to Mt. Moon took about two days, and proceeded relatively without incident. Indeed, it seemed often to Alvin that their little group was afforded almost mystic protection, as the lands they traveled through often bore unmistakeable signs of large predator populations. Four chu traveling together might as well be dragging a large neon sign label "eat me" for the attention a group of prey scents that concentrated should be receiving. It seemed everything Alvin had ever learned about predators was mistaken, however, as they didn't see so much as the droppings between the colony and Mt. Moon. Logan walked at the lead, occasionally stopping abruptly, darting into the hollow of a tree, or changing paths with no prior warning. The changes seemed completely random, yet Logan's expression and demeanor suggested she knew exactly where she was going, so no one voiced any objection. No one so much as asked her a question until they had stopped to make camp for the first night.

They had managed to find a particularly large and empty burrow, complete with only slightly dry grasses and leaves to sleep on. Mia and Volte had already done just that, curling to sleep in one corner, leaving the two other chu awake and alone on the surface. It was raining fairly hard now, and the sound of each drop shook their little earthen shelter a little, but the burrow had been built beneath the base of a tree, so failing a flash flood they had very little to worry about. It was as the first clap of thunder shook the shelter that Alvin spoke, looking across their little burrow to Logan. "Mind if I... ask you something?" he asked, as soon as he had built up sufficient courage to do so. This new female had never been a creature of many words, and volunteering information seemed almost beyond her. "Well... a few things, but..."

The female nodded... or... it seemed to Alvin that she had. The burrow had very little light, after all.

"Is that really your name? Or... did you just pick a name I'd remember... so you could lead me away and eat me?" Alvin's tone was far less serious than his words, and it seemed apparent to both chu that he was joking... at least in part.

Though she seemed to smile, when Logan spoke, it was far more seriously than Alvin. "That's really my name... yeah."

"So you're a pikachu now?"

Logan's smile widened. "Looks that way."

"Why'd you do it? If you vanished weeks before I was even changed... you couldn't have known about me... why then? These four legs aren't exactly the easiest to keep together in... or the safest. Not to mention... this isn't the same continent as where I found the thing that changed me... so..." Alvin glanced once to his mate and daughter, asleep a few feet away, then back to the newcomer, his expression intensely curious.

For a long time, Logan didn't say anything at all, her eyes fixed on some apparently interesting point on the dirt ceiling only inches above. Eventually she did speak, tone drifting and distant. "I... I've never been more sure of anything I've ever done." She eventually said. "It's not the same kind of decision you made. It wasn't an accident... I knew the ground I was walking on."

Alvin had many questions more. How had she made the pikachu think they had returned to the colony, how she had made it this far without attracting the attention of predators, how she had found him... but the answers to those questions were not particularly important. She was telepathic, wasn't she? Maybe some aspect of her human powers still worked when she was in the body of a pokemon. That answer would have to do, for now. It was late, and they were both tired from traveling all day... he wouldn't waste their time with pointless queries. "Are you going to try and get your body back too? Use that... thing... to get two legs back again?"

Logan shook her head. "No. I'm here for the same reason you are... to see you're changed back, and to help your friend... to help David."

"Why?"

Logan looked away from the ceiling, obviously started. She hadn't expected that question, it seemed, and for several seconds, had no answer. Eventually she did speak, trying her best to keep her tone placid, to keep the tones of longing, loneliness... as far from her voice as possible. "Haven't you ever wanted a friend? An equal? Not someone to look up to, but to share time with? Just to be in the company of someone else?"

It was Alvin's turn to smile. He didn't understand exactly what she might be talking about... but it didn't matter. He turned, glancing to Mia. "Yeah... I suppose I have."

--

Travel resumed the next morning, although at a far slower pace than it had been for much of the previous day, given the heavy rainfall. They stopped when they could, resting under an outcropping of rock or sheltered in an empty burrow... but the majority of their time was spent up and moving, taking advantage of how little their scent would spread with rain this heavy. Food was plentiful at this part of the year, so the occasional stops for fruit or berries were all that was required to keep them fed. As they advanced, Logan seemed to grow more impatient, more anxious, pushing their pace faster through the wilderness, through the mud, and through the muck. Only when they reached their second-day's campsite, the shelter of a fairly sizable metallic object, painted and camouflaged into the side of the steep hill that became Mt. Moon. The instant they'd reached this patch of dry ground, before Alvin had time to ask what this metallic object was doing here and if it was wise to sleep where they were, Logan had collapsed into sleep, not even bothering to prepare herself a bed.

They were all tired, and Volte quickly joined Logan, curling up to sleep beside her and falling from consciousness in seconds. Mia, seeing the dreadful, muddy state of her mate, moved instead to try and perform the duties expected of any pikachu mate... helping Sparks get clean. They sat together for at least an hour, taking turns doing their very best to help each other get clean in as instinctual a way as there was possible to be. Alvin might be working to become human again, and he might be remembering more and more about his human life... but instincts he had shrunk away from and resisted when he had first changed were now effectively incorporated into his subconscious. But he didn't notice he was acting unusually... or that he was acting at all. For the moment, instinct governed him, just as it often had.

"Sparks... what's waiting for us, when we get back?" Mia eventually asked when she had finished.

"What's... waiting?"

"Yeah! You haven't talked about what humans live in, or how they live... will we be safe there? I mean... trainers are dangerous! Will I... if you change back, like you were always trying to do before... will I be safe there? Will Volte be safe?"

Alvin answered without the slightest hesitation. "Of course!" He practically shouted, licking a little at the space just behind Mia's head. "I'll make sure of it, no matter what I look like."

"What's it like? Living with humans..."

Sparks did his best to keep a cheerful expression, did his best to seem optimistic and cheerful about what he was going to say next, but these were not easy tasks to accomplish. How would things be like for Mia, living with humans? On the one hand, there were so many advantages to living in the wild... he could say those without qualms, right? "We... we'll always have enough to eat, enough to drink, some of the best and strangest fruits you've ever tasted... its always warm enough to sleep, and there are never predators to worry about. If you get hurt, there are people who can save you, like the ones David took you to when we found you... we have light when we want it, even at night." Of course, that was without saying all the disadvantages. Mia would be trapped in a home/backyard, she wouldn't have the free reign of entire forests. There were no predators, but there was also nothing new to explore, no space to keep running for more than a few steps before hitting a wall. There were plenty of toys, but no way of meeting new chu, no way of socializing of your own initiative with someone who didn't actually live there. "We don't have to work, if we don't want to, just... relax."

"That sounds... perfect! No foraging for food, no predators... and its always warm?" Such vision sounded too good to be true, impossible to believe. How could a place be warm in the summer and in the winter? How could there always be food without working? But if Sparks said it, it had to be true.

"I only wish... you'll be alone... or..." Assuming they could rescue him at least, there was Des. Would Des even still remember him? How much older would he be? He didn't know, but... that was one chu at least who would still have four legs when this was all over. "not alone, just... there won't be very many of us... pokemon, that is..."

Mia's expression was suddenly unreadable, not something often observed with such an instinctual individual. "But you'll be there, right?" Alvin nodded, and was suddenly taken violently to the ground with the tightest of pilkachu embraces, spoiling ten minutes of cleaning work in a matter of seconds. "Then it'll be home, no matter what you look like." The pikachu pair remained tightly locked together, one beside the other, until tiredness from the day's travels overtook them, and they thought no more.


	21. Activation Energy

Chapter 21: Activation Energy

A/N: Well, here we are again, with another thrilling installment of MM! As you may've noticed, things are picking up a little bit with regards to action and that sort of thing, and we can expect that pattern to increase until the epilogue. With regards to the ending, I'm just hammering out the details now, so... expect it!

Let's see... not much in the way of news... sorry about not responding as quickly as I would've liked to reviews... I've been extremely sick... there's this viral intestinal thing going around, and it's the pits. But... that's beside the point. Just... as always, for those of you who want to become more involved, skype is always open for more pokemon/tf people (Feel free to contact me for more information), as are the forums (off-site these days, we've moved off ). If you're looking for some more great TF related stuff in this universe (Albeit lacking in mew and Alvin most of the time), then DarkPokemonLover or Kirby Oak may have you covered.

But... I guess that's it! As alawys, if you have any questions or comments, feel free to leave a review, or contact me some other way! It was and always has been the reviews that keep me writing...

--

"So... this is how we're going to get inside?" The little row of Pikachu stood perched on the very edge of the large metallic gateway into the mountain below. By the time Alvin had awoke, Logan had already been hard at work disassembling some sort of ventilation cover. How she had done it, Alvin didn't know, but the many hundred of pieces of the fan and the weatherproofing had all been arranged neatly on the grass by the time he was awake, and the female was poised on the edge of the hole, looking down the expansive shaft into a void who's mysteries Alvin could only guess. The shaft sloped violently, while not quite vertical. He hoped quite strongly they wouldn't be using this way in.

Logan nodded. "This shaft usually vents superheated steam from one of the..." the other pikachu mumbled something, while not actual words, the thought was conveyed into his head. "two fusion reactors." Obviously the pikachu language had no such words. This female seemed to be finding them, though... and not just finding, but conveying meaning as well. How could she do that? Speak words that didn't exist? Alvin didn't dwell on it, or tried not to. "This reactor is offline for maintenance this morning, so we'll be able to get inside. I've already disabled the tampering alarm on this unit, so... we should have things fairly easy. I mean... until we actually get inside."

"What's waiting for us? Why are we trying to get David out before finding that... thing... that will change me back?"

Logan's answer did not disappoint. "Your humanity is in there. That's what's drawing power from those reactors. It takes only one of them running at 5 to power this base... the rockets found it first. They've had it for more than a year now..."

Alvin's questions persisted, his tone more curious than anything else. "What are they doing with it? Surely they don't have many pichu to return to humanity?"

Logan's expression was grim. "Not exactly. Let's try not to concentrate on that, alright? If we work properly, we won't..." The pikachu trailed off, expression suddenly blank. She shook her head for a moment, clearing it of something. "All right, it's time. Just slide down the shaft... when I stop, stop with me. David is being moved into a holding area a room away from the device you're looking for. This shaft runs directly above that room."

Once again, it seemed this Pikachu's sources of information were nearly supernatural. how in the world could she know all of this? How could a pikachu know what the inside of a Team Rocket facility looked like, or the maintenance schedule of their reactors? But if it was a holding area, that meant David wouldn't be there forever... they had to use the opportunity while they had it. "All right. I'm ready." He turned to his daughter, then his mate, receiving scared nods from the both of them. They were ready.

Logan leaned forward, out over the edge... and in a blur of yellow, vanished into the dark. Alvin imitated here, slowly leaning out over the dark... until his own center of gravity took him over the edge. The fall lasted only seconds, as something thick and metallic quickly came in contact with his paws. The shaft was at least three feet wide and two tall, meaning there was plenty of space for bouncing around as Alvin slid quicker than he could ever remember moving into the dark, careening down the twisting, violently sloping metallic tube. Alvin resisted the desire to yell, to scream in panic... but only just. As the tube descended, he eventually skidded to a halt. The tube was not completely dark, but lit with reflected light from above. Several paces ahead, Alvin could see the female pikachu, clawing at a thin line in one of the many brackets. He pawed up to her, careful to keep his paces as quiet as possible. Her efforts shouldn't have been making so much as a dent, on metal this thick, but.. each mark drove deep scores into the steel, screeching so loudly it seemed clear to Sparks the entire base must hear the by now.

"D-don't worry..." The female said as she worked, without so much a second's hesitation, answering a protest he hadn't actually made. "These conduits are heavily insulated, so no one will know we've arrived... until we're ready." She stopped carving, stepping back from the metallic wall of the shaft. "It isn't time to go in, yet... he won't be in this area long, so... we have to be ready."

Alvin leaned in close, surveying the score-marks Logan had made. A uniform sphere, ready to pop out when they were ready... he only hoped no one on the outside noticed this. "What are we going to do? The question was a simple one, but one many in his place very well might neglect. But Alvin wasn't about to just go jumping into... whatever situation they would be in. At the very least, someone would be moving David, likely several heavily armed someones, as they were dealing with a powerfully gifted individual.

"The metal of this shaft is non-conductive..." she began, pausing as two more chu came shooting down the passage, and waiting for them to join the pair before going on. "When we open this, aim forward and low... blast at the forward two guards, and aim for the head, if you can..." she seemed to be speaking the entire group of chu, aside from herself, her tone relatively straightforward, placid. As though she had just asked them to tighten a bolt.

"And... you?" Alvin asked, more for curiosity, reference, than anything else.

Logan went on. "Your friend is wearing a psionic inhibitor, operated by a scientist who's nature may allow me to convince him to cooperate. He is no longer a willing employee here. I will try to get him to disable the device being used on David... but if the controls are damaged, it could kill him. We can't remove the inhibitor... it's been surgically applied, and will take surgery to remove." For several seconds, her expression returned to that blank, empty state, as though she were watching a distant television screen, gazing off into what looked to Alvin like nothing more than solid wall. The curious expression did not last long, however. "They're coming... try not to concentrate on what you're looking at, just hit the ones in black uniforms... the pink one and the white one are the ones we're trying to protect."

Alvin raised a paw, about to protest, to question... pink one? What in the world was logan talking about? But he didn't have time to find out... for the next second, Logan slammed into the circle she'd scored into the side of the shaft, bursting it at once, and the relative peace within the shaft turned to chaos in half a heartbeat.

First, it seemed apparent that the shaft was not as well insulated as they'd hoped. As soon the hole took shape, Alvin felt an enormous blast of force rock him straight back to the other side of the shaft, and seconds later, the shaft itself tumbled to the earth. Alvin blinked, confused, as the conduit around him seemed to be lifted from the earth, and he was soon beside the other pikachu, huddled together in a crumpled heap. Dimly, through the pain, Alvin forced one of his eyes open. His vision was blurred, making it difficult to see anything more than a few feet from him. Two men, black uniforms... and weapons trained on their little pile of pikachu. Behind them, he could see two vaguely humanoid figures... but he tuned them out, focusing instead on the two in front of them. Logan, it seemed, had been knocked clean unconscious by the fall, Volte was struggling to push herself onto the right side... but Mia and himself seemed unharmed, more shaken by the fall than anything else. Looking up, Sparks could see they were some of the luckiest pikachu alive... a fall from that distance and no serious injury?

"What should we do?" One asked the other, gun only half-trained on the pikachu, half angled at the ceiling, where two well-placed shots had taken the brackets that had until moments ago held the ventilation shaft to the ceiling, blasting cleanly through thick layers of foam and insulation. The second man was only just correcting his hold on a large, rifle-looking weapon, who's end he had apparently used to free the vent from the wall. "This looks like alot've damage... it'll come out of our pay without a good reason for it..."

The other rocket appeared to be paying the pikachu little mind at all, adjusting his weapon, checking to be sure everything was in working order. "You don't think catching intruders is a good reason?"

"Not pokemon intruders!" Alvin was only just blinking the blurred grogginess from his eyes when he felt something large and heavy slam painfully into his body, his world spinning, spinning... and ending with an unpleasant bump. Mia beside him inhaled sharply, but was just now too terrified to move, too frozen with fear to run or make any moves to change the situation for the better. What was worse, with Alvin kicked nearly senseless in a single blow, she was now the most healthy of any of the 'rescuers'. "Seargent'd probably be on our hides about how we should've called to turn on the reactor, kill them with steam pressure... now we've caused damage that'll keep it offline for at least a day..."

"What was it, then? Do..." Alvin's world was spinning all the more unpleasantly now, so much that it was difficult to concentrate, even long enough to put together the english words they were saying. Something about missing scientists and abnormal numbers of pokemon, something about 'the early stages of preliminary testing' and 'past subjects'.

Mia, however, could hear perfectly, and wished very much she couldn't. After so long in the wild, very little of what her trainer had taught he remained in her brain. While she stayed with David and Alvin, her understanding of the language had improved, but now... she wished she'd paid more attention to what David had said and less to what he'd been feeding her.

"You think... we put enough holes... they won't be able to tell the difference?" The larger of the two men spun his rifle in his hands, a rather dangerous task he seemed to perform almost without effort... but Mia didn't know this. She did know that the device was dangerous... as her first trainer had nearly been seriously injured by two men bearing similar devices. A policeman had arrived in time to prevent something serious... but Mia would never forget the appearance of a gun. No matter how they looked, long, rounded, metallic objects would always be guns to her.

"Maybe... and it might be... I mean, they did get in here somehow... maybe they really are? But do you want to chance it?" The smaller of the two man lowered his weapon... much more purposefully this time, training it directly on Alvin. "But if he's..." The man said a series of words Mia did not understand. "Then they won't know if they were wild or not, will they? We'll have done a great service... a great... favor... Raiden won't say otherwise, will he? And the mew... it never talks to anyone, so nothing to worry about there..." The man fiddled with the weapon, removing the safety and pulling the hammer back, making a slow job of what could've been a quick process, angling the handgun square down at Alvin... at... at her mate!

"NO!" Mia leapt to her feet, jumping a full foot into the air in the process, landing several inches away from the others, away from Logan, Volte. By this time, Logan had began to stir a little, although not quite conscious yet. Naturally, the human observers in the room did not understand what Mia had said, but Alvin did. His mind was groggy, world foggy and clouded by pain, one eye closed by blood. But he saw Mia, suddenly standing on her hind legs, several feet from the others, face more angry than he had ever seen it. A second later, the corridor was ablaze with energy, a bright flash of electricity so bright several of the fluorescent lights above exploded in a shower of glass and sparks, held only by the thin plastic film meant to defuse their light. Mia had not missed. The man's body went rigid, all his muscles violently contracting. The energy itself caused him to stumble, offsetting his aim before he fired, sending the bullet through several inches of concrete to Alvin's upper left. The man stumbled further, falling over backwards, and collapsing into a crumpled heap. He would not rise for some hours.

The next series of events transpired so quickly that, when they were over, Alvin was left blinking blankly up, throughly and utterly dumbfounded. Mia stepped forward, still blazing with energy... but the other man was faster. He'd been momentarily stunned at her first attack, so surprised to see an animal she thought disabled deliver such a powerful blow... but he would not make that kind of mistake twice. As she moved forward, so too did he angle forward with the rifle, inclining the weapon with military precision. The narrow corridor echoed with the sound of one shot, then a second, then a third. Bang! Bang! Bang! The force on Mia's tiny pikachu body was enormous, slamming her straight into the wall with the first shot, bones crushing with each successive blow. She did not stir.

Alvin jump to his feet, screaming his mate's name, eyes locked on where she'd fell... and the remaining soldier took aim, just as he had with Mia, ready to fire just as he had with Mia.

He didn't get the chance. As Alvin's eyes began to clear again, he saw the man stumble, saw the rifle hit by something blue and energetic from behind him, saw it fly to pieces in his hands, and seconds later, saw the same force catch the man full in the chest, and watched him slam into the wall, crumpling to the floor. A pink /something/ moved over Alvin's head, towards the two blurred figures further down the hallway, toward those two objects he still couldn't quite see... but Alvin didn't care, hardly noticed at all. As Volte had already done, Sparks padded the distance to where Mia lay, sniffing at the body of his mate. There was no pulse, no breathing... and no small wonder.There was little blood on her front, only splotched in places here or there where the bullets had entered the body... but as Alvin tried to lift her, tried to check physically for the breathing he knew had to be there... it just HAD to, he found the wounds on her back were much less clean, and his paws were suddenly wet with blood... Mia's blood... his mate's blood... and still he clung to her, stubbornly ignoring what his senses told him. She couldn't be gone... Mia couldn't be gone! The idea of a world without Mia, a world without... it was almost... beyond his very imagination! Dimly, almost as though his body were an echo, a dream... and with every second, he became more awake, and less a part of this new, strange world... a world without Mia, without his mate. He could feel a set of weak paws pulling him back, and hear the faint echos of Volte's cries. Mia hadn't so much as stirred, nor would she.

"Alvin... I'm sorry... the fall, it... I couldn't save her." But Alvin wasn't listening. He was hardly thinking, hardly aware of his own breathing, his own thinking.

How long he remained almost motionless, clutching the fallen body of his mate, he did not know. But... as he sat there, he was suddenly aware of a pair of... hands... paws... something... lifting him and his daughter into the air, resting them both gently together holding them...

Alvin could suddenly feel the earth beneath him, under his bare feet... toes! Alvin had toes! Indeed, his arms, legs... skin... it was all here! His clothes were simple, a plain white jumpsuit without so much as a pocket, but... that was of little issue... he was human again! The sky above was dark, lit only with the stars and a full moon, but after a year without artificial light, Alvin hardly noticed this at all.

"I'm sorry... I've gotten better, but not that much better..." A second later, the rather featureless field in which he stood was suddenly populated with a second figure... David! Without so much as a second's hesitation, Alvin hugged his friend, utterly without shame. David blinked, confused, but showed no sign of embarrassment either. Two tired old soldiers, embracing after a long and deadly campaign. "This isn't real. In a few moments, when this ends... you'll be what you were, until we change you back... I can't alter your body, unfortunately... Raiden's deactivated the inhibitor, but it can't make up for months of wearing it. I don't expect I'll learn what I need to for awhile..."

Alvin let go, remembering his mate... trying to fight back the tears, but failing in the effort. He couldn't forget Mia, wouldn't ever forget... couldn't afford to forget.

David lowered his eyes, expression grim. "I wish I could've known her better... she was like you then, after all... wild pichu don't do much thinking..." David trailed off, expression fixed on something far away, something obscured by cloud... Alvin could see it was meadow now, although of what kind and where they might be was beyond him.

"So she's really... g-gone?"

David nodded, expression grim. "If my kin can't bring her back, she's gone. Logan would've done all in her power to stop it, but... she's not invincible. Some things simply can't be done... like bringing back the dead."

Alvin, though, had heard a set of very different words. Or, at least... the words he noticed were not quite the ones David had intended. "Your... kin? What are you talking about? Isn't Logan a pikachu? Aren't you human?"

David answered both questions together. "Not exactly." He smiled faintly. "I can control my appearance here, just like I'm controlling yours... I couldn't do that before, remember? A great deal has changed since we spoke last..."

Alvin's expression was suddenly blank, his face vaguely curious, but otherwise unobservant. "What have they done to you, David?"

David's smile widened. "It's not like you'll get to remain ignorant for much longer... but if I show you now, you promise not to scream... alright?"

--

In what seemed like an instant, David returned Alvin and Volte to the ground... but as he already knew, this David had changed a great deal in the year or so that separated them now from their last meeting. His features were much lighter now, passive, eyes the largest and brightest blue Sparks had ever seen. These were where the mind changes ended, however. His entire body, it seemed, was coated with a short layer of... lightly pink fur, his limbs thinner, almost catlike in their strange grace. He wore a plain white jumpsuit, stitched with some meaningless number, and behind him... "You've got one too!" Alvin had first said, indicating his tail.

"I know... it comes with the genetics, I guess..."

"But... if they can do this to you... why haven't they made more? I mean... why not use rocket staff? Some of them have got to be willing to give up their bodies for power like... like you must have..."

David nodded, expression more grim than it had been even when he first spoke the news that Mia was, in fact, dead. "Some would sell their souls for it, I've no doubt... and several have tried. Pray we don't meet them, Alvin... there are some things you're better off not knowing. Raiden is a good man here because circumstance compelled him..." The creature shuddered, and the illusion of David's body returned to the human appearance Alvin knew so well. "He's been manipulated genetically, just as I have... he has some pokemon instincts now... but his human mind is still there. Rocket's alterations to his body did not target his mind, and he is no telepath... I've learned from Logan that some of his predecessors tried to build a modified clone using the same genes they used for me... he nearly ended life as we know it, she says. I don't know if that's true... but I've seen what they did. The others... they didn't use pokemon genetics as they were, altering the human genes as they went... that's how they created me. They created me because of what they got in that other process, and what they did not desire to repeat. I don't have quite the strength that they do... but I don't need it. I'm a born telepath, and they were not. Their powers only work because of the sheer volume of the energy behind them."

It seemed David had more to say on the matter, but Alvin cut him off. "So... why are they doing this... messing with people, hurting you... why?"

David frowned. "The device... the one that can change you back... its part of something much bigger, much larger, more complicated than even the rockets suspect... fortunately, too much of the device has been destroyed for it to be possible to assemble in its entirety..."

"What are they doing with it? Making a bunch of pichu?" Alvin grinned.

David's expression showed no sign of loosening up. "I only wish. The object can be used as a sort of transportation device, like some of those people in saferon... only without the telepath. They're all telepathically controlled, but technology's getting better about replicating such signals. They've managed to open a sort of... gate. A kind of in-between..." He shook his head again. "Humans can't survive it... my kind can't survive it... but these manipulations... these changes... humans can't survive there, but pokemon can. It's something to do with the level of intelligence, Logan says... but I don't fully know. I only know... whenever they try to take me through it... even looking at it makes me... ill? Angry? I don't know... they haven't got me through it yet... I wouldn't survive if they did." David's appearance seemed to flicker, and for an instant, Alvin felt as though he were suddenly much closer to the ground. "B-but... I can't hold this illusion much longer... I need practice, more practice..."

There were so many more questions Alvin had wanted to ask, so much more he wanted to learn... why had Raiden joined them, what consequences would he face as the result of those choices... how would they escape this base? Getting into a facility of this size had been possible because no military measures could be effectively taken against wild pokemon. A part of humans as large as they were, however, could not exit through the ventilation. And Mia... no, he couldn't think about that, not now... As he found himself on the ground again, Alvin could tell he'd been moved during that brief connection with David, something else his friend hadn't been able to do, in the past.That, it seemed, had changed. He could feel the padded paws now, see his friend... or what was left of him. The creature stood about the same height, seemed to weigh a similar amount... but it was there the similarities ended. Even more changed, it seemed, was the man he knew must be Raiden. To call him a man, though, was almost cruelly inaccurate. There was little human about him, save for the two legs he used for standing. His body, like David's had a thick coating of fur, his limbs were thin and nimble, head misshapen, with large ears not unlike his own, and gigantic teeth, none of which seemed able of doing physical damage. the most threatening thing about him came from Alvin's innate sense of electrical energy, which showed him the immense concentration of high-voltage electricity near the upper portion of his body, likely stored somewhere near the two yellow-colored patches on his cheeks.

But Alvin did not stare. David's appearance had shocked him, but he hadn't stared then, and he wasn't staring now. If anything, he felt a kind of unspoken, instinctual affinity towards the man. Why? Being an electrical rodent was a dangerous business. Anyone that didn't want to eat you could be a potential friend, as far as Alvin was concerned. But that wasn't what he was thinking about...

The room was expansive, and from the ground several times more-so. By the looks of the ceiling, it'd once been an airplane hangar of sorts... but that had changed. The facility had been stripped nearly to the rock. An empty area on the far side of the chamber held bunks and a rudimentary living area, currently empty. They had all gone to someplace David called the "Beachhead". In the center of the room, mounted on a heavy steel platform and held in place by two heavy robotic arms, was the device. A dark, dense metal, engraved with scores of symbols which meant nothing to Alvin. The structure itself was roughly round, with several apparently free-rotating wider and smaller wheels, roughly six feet across at its widest point. Was this the thing he needed to change back? Was this humanity?


	22. Redemption

Chapter 22: Redemption

Chapter 22: Redemption

A/N: Well, here we are at the very edge of the end. It's a strange feeling, you know, writing the ending of a story that's been a big part of you for so long. Things are not over yet, of that I can safely say. But a few more reviews, and the epilogue will head out as well. I hope very much I've done a proper job, in all this. I did work so very hard. Please, if you enjoyed my work here to the least degree, please take the time to leave a comment, or stop by the forums, or… anything! If you already have, then thank you. As always, it's these reviews that keep me going. I've got a little rant, but I'll save that for the epilogue.

--

David seemed to be fumbling with something on the doorway they'd just entered, a thick steel blast-door that seemed to be the only way in or our of this chamber, other than the hinged. opening in the ceiling. David didn't even pause to bother with the computer panel, that Raiden had used to open the door, and Alvin soon discovered why. With one sweeping gesture of his arm, the steel warped and disfigured, glowing brightly orange, and fusing with the rear wall. They weren't leaving that way.

"C'mon, Sparks... the mew wants us to move towards that big thing in the middle... she says we're going out that way!" The voice was Volte's, radiating every bit of the strength Alvin continued to fail to convince himself he had.

But... what was she talking about? Alvin knew what the big thing in the middle must be, but... which mew? His eyes had been fixed on David, watching him seal the door behind them. What was her daughter... Logan! The pikachu wheeled round, and, sure enough... another, very different creature had taken its place in the room. Far from the artificial, almost painfully inaccurate complications he observed with David's body, this creature was perfectly graceful, a catlike creature roughly his own size, gliding as effortlessly through the air as though it were water, and she were an Olympic swimmer. In an instant, every question about Logan... how she had found them, how she had been able to do what she did... were answered. "Alright Volte, I'm coming..." As Alvin darted across the room beside his daughter, he was painfully aware of a loud banging from the outside, reverberating along the length of the gigantic blast-door, and echoing throughout the chamber, again and again and again. The door showed little sign of deformation, though... for all Alvin knew, it may've been built to withstand a nuclear blast. Then again... probably not. Alvin stopped beside his daughter at the edge of the ramp, sliding up onto hind legs as she had already done as to better survey the gigantic device. The mew darted through the air above and around it, severing the many thick cords and what seemed like miles of fiber-optic cable with waves of her tiny paws.

It seemed she'd nearly finished when, shouting in a tone as high and terrified as any Alvin remembered from the wild, Raiden darted across the room, shaking his fist up at the mew, as enraged as he was terrified. "What are you doing, Mew?!" He shouted, more loudly than seemed possible from such a small frame. Several bolts of vibrantly blue electricity lanced from his cheeks, striking the floor and several of the severed cables at random, setting a few small fires no one seemed particularly inclined to notice. "We spent months configuring those! Years of study to even attempt a connection! How're we ever going to activate the device now?" From the other side of the heavy door, it seemed the rockets had given up in their attempts to enter the chamber... for the moment. The lights above them flickered... then went out entirely, and the entirety of their illumination suddenly came from nothing more than the smoldering pile of wiring and insulation.

The mew took little notice of the creature below, not reacting in any visible way to Raiden's shouts. With another forceful gesture of her tiny limbs, both heavy robotic arms cracked, splintered... and broke apart at their connection with the gigantic metallic device. The ring fell several inches to the earth, landing with an earth-shaking crash and sinking half an inch or so into the steel platform... perfectly balanced on one of its sides for a fraction of a second, before it tottered backward and tumbled slowly through the air, bending clean through the back of the platform to the concrete, and knocking everyone but David and the mew to the ground with the sheer shock of volume and force. The fire, by this point, had expended what little percentage of insulation wasn't properly fireproofed, leaving behind only a vaguely noxious odor, and plunging the chamber into total darkness.

Through the gloom, as Alvin returned to his feet, he could hear Logan's voice again. "You know... there was a reason it took hours each time you used the device... why you couldn't get it to run more efficiently... you were doing it wrong." The room was suddenly ablaze with light, so vibrant Alvin had to shield his eyes for several seconds behind the wreckage of the ramp. When he looked up again, he could see in the vibrant blue that the artifact had righted itself again, and had begun to slowly rotate, borne by some force he couldn't quite see, but ruffled his fur with each passing. There were at least three ovals, each rotating within its own axis, each rotating a different way... though none were actually coming in physical contact, as the device held itself in the air roughly a foot above the platform. With each passing, the brightness from the device increased, its multiple rings moving with such speed the air began to move fiercely now, their intricate surfaces blurred by their speed.

Where the energy was coming from was anyone's guess, but without the damaged reactors and the way the rockets had cut power, it clearly wasn't coming from any conventional systems. Raiden stood at the foot of the ramp, mere inches from the pair of chu, looking up with an expression of equal wonder. If this was the way the device was designed to operate, it made sense that it would drain so much energy... by the looks of things, the portal involved the three... elements, rings, whatever they were, working together in series. It seemed as though any one of them could operate independently, but... this element of rotation had never been recorded either. Did the motor element serve some purpose? It... it must, if the device was doing it. After all he'd seen David do, all he'd demonstrated, he had no words to compare it to what the device was doing now. If only he could meet its builders, if only he could share a conversation with them... they would clearly had a great deal to teach him. The mew remained still in the air, her patterns of flight playful no longer, every drop of that lackadaisical attitude gone, expression deeply concentrated. A second later, she seemed to have finished, the device dropping several inches to touch lightly with the ramp, more accurately than any robotic arm could've done.

"There, that's..." But David did not finish. It had seemed before as though team rocket had ceased in their struggles to interrupt their escape... that impression had clearly been a mistaken one. With a blast to shake small rocks and dust from the ceiling and a violent splintering, bending, and groaning of steel, a hole four feet across and at least ten feet high was blasted into the metal, showering the immidate area with molten metal and sparks, and filling the room with a thick gray smoke.

Alvin felt something between hands and paws push him further and further towards the spinning gateway, who's arms moved with such speed now he couldn't see them... couldn't even be sure they were there at all. As he forced his eyes away from the entrance to the chamber, towards the portal, he didn't see the rings, didn't even see the device, but what he did see... his home! Sitting silent and peaceful in the late-afternoon sun, its gardens and lawns as well cut as he remember, and his father's car parked in the driveway... home! "G-go on..." He heard Raiden's voice say, pushing him towards the gateway, claws screeching on the steel in his efforts to resist. Volte was putting up more of a fight, it seemed, and after a few seconds, Raiden had ceased struggling entirely. "You can't stay! None of us can!"

The group that proceeded through the doorway it had made was more horrible than anything Alvin could've imagined. There were five, walking together in a sort of "V", their arms extended in some gesture they'd used together to bring down the door. Like David, it seemed these were subjects of genetic manipulation... unlike david, it seemed nothing favorable of their past species had survived. Their fur was rough, growing in uneven patches of different shades of purpose, exposing rough skin in places and worse things in others. Their faces were feline like David's, but with harsher features and an uneven gnarling of features. None possessed any sort of organic symmetry, and none were exactly alike, making them look more like a collection of roughly stitched rag-dolls than people. From behind their black jumpsuits, Alvin could see each had a thick tail with fur of deep purple, vaguely like Logan's or David's, but without a trace of that smooth, almost circular grace. As one turned, muttering in some tongue Alvin did not understand to one of its fellows, he could see a thick, round.. something, connecting the back of its head to the spine and the rest of its body. Worst of all, though, were their eyes... as there was very little eye he could see. Weather or not the creatures had perfectly functioning eyes or were blind, he could not tell, as every one radiated a dark blue light too vibrant from their eyes to see what might lie beyond it. Whereas Alvin felt subconsciously safer, subconsciously comforted, when he looked at Logan or David, these creatures produced a sensation of absolute parallel, causing him to tremble at their mere sight. The energy these creatures radiated... made him feel sick... and he was no telepath. What must David be feeling, right now?

David... both mews, it seemed, had moved forward to the base of the ramp, one beside the other at head-level, the other taking a balanced stance on the ground, ready to fight as best as he could be. Never in Alvin's life had he seen an expression of greater hatred on David's face. Never had he seemed so angry, so determined, so disgusted.

Whatever these creatures were, they were clearly intelligent, and obviously acting under some sort of directive. Their faces... eyes... it was difficult to tell, settled first on David, than on Logan, then on Raiden, absolutely ignoring the others.

_Capture the mew. Slay the Pachirisu. Slay all others. _The creatures spoke as one, their voices a telepathic chorus of such strength Alvin's eyes wattered from the sudden pain in his skull, the sudden pressing of so many powerful minds so tightly to his own... but there was nothing at all healthy about it. It felt nothing like being connected with David... there was nothing relaxing about it, not a trace of compassion or empathy or any sign of being noticed at all. For all their strength, it was clear even to Alvin these creatures had about the free-will of a pokeball. The being at the group's front raised one of its 'hands', and with it, Raiden lifted momentarily from the ground, gasping at his throat with two weak paws, kicking wildly out at the empty air below him, but to no avail. _Prolong the Pachirisu's suffering as long as possible._ The voices said, all still, motionless, observing the one lead creature who seemed to have taken it upon itself to act.

"No." It was not a chorus, the strength of it didn't burn the inside of Alvin's head... just David's voice, twisted slightly by the changes that had warped his body, but far more human than... whatever those things cold be described as. The lead creature soared several feet before colliding with one of its neighbors, without so much as a gesture from David, and the both went sprawling. Raiden dropped at once, landing on all fours,panting heavily... but alive. The two creatures, though... were clearly undamaged, and returned to their feet in moments. All eyes were on David and his companion.

"David... we can't fight them!" Alvin yelled, screamed, shouted... tone suddenly full of panic. "Let's use the portal now... and sever the connection so they can't follow! We need to run!" Volte, hearing her father's plea, darted to the swirling image of the human nest, stopping at its very edge...

_N-no... you can't. Go with Raiden and your daughter. We will follow if we can._ David's voice was quiet in his head now, moreso than he had ever heard it, resolute... and commanding. Worst of all, Alvin knew that his friend was right. They would be useless here... in this kind of fight, he might as well be made of marbles. If they stayed, they would just give David and Logan more to worry about, more to protect.

_W-will I... s- _Alvin tried to respond, but the creatures moved forward, fanning out in an oval, slowly surrounding them. There was no time to talk! /Now! Don't worry about me! I'm done here... I couldn't go back even if I wanted to... say goodbye to my family for me, alright?/ Without waiting for an answer, David inclined his head backward, and in a wave of energy, Alvin and Volte and the scientist went spiraling through the air, into the window... where the landed sprawled and tangled in the grass. His head, his body... everywhere... were suddenly and vibrantly alight with pain, but Alvin struggled to ignore it, lifting his head high enough to stare through the window at the two mew, still backing up, away from the circle of the others around therm. If they were speaking, he could not hear it... though the sound of loud, echoing footsteps pounding down some distant hall filtered through the doorway in the air. The three outline she knew to be the others raised their hands, directing one gigantic wave of vibrant blue toward the mew... but the energy would never reach them. The pain was becoming overpowering... needles at all parts of his body, thousands and thousands of little pains, stretching, groaning... but Alvin forced his eyes open, watching as the two creatures in the center seemed to touch paws... and the window exploded in a wave of white, scorching the floor and blasting back the six others, brightness so great that their blast of blue, wide and forceful as it was, was dissipated like smoke... but Alvin did not see more. As the wave of white emanating from the place the mew had been came in contact to the place the spinning device had been, the window appeared to shimmer... and with a loud /crack, went out altogether. Alvin tried to call out for his friend, tried to scream... but as the pain in his body became more acute, he fell utterly limp to the ground, struggling to blink the pain from his eyes long enough to return his face to the darkening silhouette of his home... before his vision darkened completely, and he thought no more.

. . . . . . . . . .

When Alvin woke, the first thing he noticed where his clothes. Plain black shorts, a long-sleeved brown shirt worn over with a dark green one... by all accounts, perfectly ordinary clothing for the young trainer. But... if he was wearing... Alvin jumped to his feet, glancing down at himself, running a light wrist down the front of his body. He was a little thinner than he remembered for all that "struggling to survive with limited supplies of food" business, his muscles better toned than he remembered... but as far as he could tell... his body looked almost identical. Maybe some small amount taller... but no significant amount. What had happened to all that time spent as a pikachu? Didn't the pokemon equivalent to years mean he should be... older than he was? Well, maybe not... if being a pichu made him younger... below maturity would be eleven at the oldest, in human terms... and pokemon his size could live as long as twenty years in captivity, so... one year would be the equivalent of five or so, from a roughly mathematical point of view. How old would that make him... sixteen?

All right... so that meant that his age made sense. But what about his room? A quick glances told him that little had changed in the time he'd been gone. His bed remained as neatly made as the night he'd left, his shelves spread with reference tomes, training materials, trophy's and gym badges... completely undisturbed despite the time he'd spent away. After being gone for more than a year, Alvin expected he had been declared dead, or at least find is stuff packed away in storage and a missing person report filed in his name. But here he was, his room looking as though nothing had changed. But what about his body?

Alvin moved slowly into the bathroom, struggling with the doorknob for several seconds before he remembered the way to twist his fingers around it and fore it to twist open. He shared a bathroom with his younger sister, joined on by a connecting room with a pair of sinks, a row of makeup lights... and what he cared about, a gigantic full-body mirror. Flipping on the lights, the boy stood before the mirror, looking himself up and down. Indeed, his initial observations had been correct. Two arms, two legs, bright blue eyes, it was all there! Well... nearly. His hair was light brown no longer, but vibrantly blonde, so full of color it was almost... but no, a quick hand through told him it was nothing more than human hair. His teeth too seemed a bit on the larger side, particularly where his front two were concerned, but other than that... he was intact! It was almost beyond belief, but sure enough, Alvin was completely human! In body, at least... his mind was still somewhat on-edge, confused by the sudden lack of his electrical sense, the hole in his observations that would normally tell him where energy was and in which ways it was currently flowing, or the way he occasionally tugged at his clothes, or had fumbled with the door. But... what about Volte? David? Raiden? Mia? His heart answered that last by dropping into his stomach. Mia had not come back with him, nor would she ever. She was gone... gone... Mia would never see his human home, never meet his... Volte! His daughter! What had happened to her? Would she be alright in human company? What would she look like? Nevermind his struggles with the doorknob, nevermind his feeling of unease in the faint presence of his own human scent.

The boy burst from his upstairs bedroom, standing poised on the edge of the stairs, looking around wildly for any sign of his daughter. "Volte... VOLTE!" He shouted, hoping, praying she would hear, that she would understand, though there seemed no logical reason why she would. Only silence answered. Many of his instincts, it seemed, were operating no longer. He did not fear the magic of the overhead lighting, did not feel subconsciously motivated to walk on dirt rather than carpet... his parenting instincts, his desire to know of Volte's well-being and see that she remain protected from harm... had not changed in the slightest. He needed to see she was alright, he needed to see what had happened to her! Alvin had lived in this home his entire life. Minus the last year, he knew its hiding places, knew the contents of every room and the way to get most efficiently from place to place. Despite his time spent in the wild, he seemed completely able to recall most of its details. Being here, it seemed, was enough to remind his mind of what it was supposed to do... at least in that regard. If no one had responded to his shouts, it meant that he was alone.. with the possible exception of Volte, who very well might not understand or even recognize his voice. Had his parents... as he assumed had been the ones to carry him inside and dress him... left the pichu outside? Had Volte been eaten by some passing bird, or captured by a random trainer? Alvin was soon sprinting through the empty house, calling Volte's name in a tone that was equal parts panic and worry.

Fortunately, his fears were ill-founded. Obscured by a thick blanket, curled up to sleep on the living-room couch... was the tiny shape of a child... a human child. Alvin's heart leapt, and his excitement would've manifested as sparks from his cheeks if he still had the capacity to generate them. As it was, the signs of his emotions were more subtle. It took him all the self-restraint he could generate to resist sprinting to her side, trowing the blanket aside and embracing her. He did move rather swiftly to the couch, squeezing himself onto one of the empty cushions as his small body size easily permitted him. The blanket stirred a little... but he didn't move it. Not yet, anyway. His daughter had seen what no child ever ought to... Mia's death had been clouded in his mind, his eyes fogged by pain... but Volte's memory of it would be perfectly clear. No child should bear such memories... have to live with the image of their dying mother so vividly burned into their brains. Had Volte looked away? Had her eyes been on her father when Mia died? Alvin hoped so... hoped so very much. By all accounts, he was little more than a child himself. He knew little of the world around him from experience, lacked the life's experience to cope with more difficult dilemmas. He had been a genius when he left, and he might still be a genius now... but he was still little more than a child. He was mature enough to know how immature he was, experienced to know how had it would be, being a parent, how difficult it would be to teach Volte what he scarcely knew for himself. Would she even know english? Would she even be able to communicate, or would he spend hundreds of difficult hours teaching her the intricacies of the english language, spending weeks and weeks to allow her the comfort she needed in the most basic of situations?

Then there was the bigger question: What had happened to him? How much had he changed for his time in the wild? Did he still remember how to read, still remember the intricacies of electronics or even such matters as simple as the directions to his nearby grocery store? Those were questions his mind could not answer. It seemed that the vast majority of his instinct was gone now. He didn't feel the compulsion to lick his body clean, did not feel compelled to gorge himself as much as possible to prevent starvation should food supplies become less prevalent. Likewise, he couldn't quite grasp his encyclopedic knowledge of pokemon, couldn't quite access his computer password, or the way to change a flat tire. It was all there... instinct and knowledge both... but existing as a sort of tentative, almost transparent thread. It felt like trying to tie your shoe... he'd begin the knot, feel the start of the knowledge, remember a few basic things or feel a few faint impressions... and he'd immediately jump for them, trying to tug them as strongly as he could into the light of his general perception... thus pulling the tread through itself and tugging the knot apart, thus left to start over with little more than tangled string in his hand. It was all there, all his memories... but some much more strongly than others. His time as a pikachu, as real as it felt, was swiftly becoming as difficult to remember as a dream, after waking. He remembered Mia, and Volte, and his escape... but the farther back he thought, the less and less he remembered... until the night before he'd been transformed, when his memories suddenly became much more vivid again. It was as though his brain was subconsciously trying to aid him in his recovery, highlighting his human memories and dulling his Pikachu ones... or maybe he was just imagining things.

By now, though, the blanket's stirrings had become much more pronounced, and Alvin caught glimpses of skin and clothes as Volte slowly shook herself away, yawning and stretching. As she sat up, the weight of her gesture tossed the blanket lightly from her body and onto the floor, giving Alvin his first glance of what her daughter looked like with two legs.

She was indeed human in many respects, and shared many of Alvin's features... the color of his eyes and hair, the slightness of his body and features, the nimble nature of her hands... but in just as many respects, she was completely different. She looked to be between six and eight years old... it was difficult to tell with both of them now exactly how old they might be, and dressed in some of Melissa's old things, a little white shirt bearing scattered pokeball logos in light pink and a pair of denim overalls. In many ways, she seemed a perfectly ordinary child... unfortunately, many was not all. She had all of Alvin's unusual features, his large eyes and teeth, the blonde color of his hair and small size... and much more. The light yellow on her head was as much fur as hair, softer and thicker, but with the length of human hair... which her mother or sister had already braided in a ponytail that fell to about her shoulders. But... poking out from behind her, clearly covered in black fur... was an appendage Alvin remembered well... a tail! Likewise, human ears were nowhere to be found, the sides of her face completely flat and featureless skin. She wasn't deaf, Alvin could clearly tell... atop her head was a pair of ears not unlike those she'd been born with, wide and brightly furred and twitching occasionally. Her cheeks too bore this strange disfiguring, and were not at all lacking for the bright circular patches of red, occasionally lighting with a spark or two. Alvin had been made completely human... Volte, it seemed, was not so lucky.

But... Alvin was not revolted, not shocked, not scared. What father could be? Volte was a great deal like a pichu... if that was the way she looked, than fine. at least she had fingers... and a brain the proper size... right? There was one way to check that. "Volte... how're you feeling?"

The girl didn't answer at first. Just as Alvin had reacted with wide eyes at Volte's appearance, only just keeping his objections and worries quiet, so too did the girl's eyes grow wide as she saw Alvin... reaching out with one hand to touch his ears, then returning that hand to her own head... where she felt her pichu ears, expression falling dramatically. "S-sparks?" The tone was weak, and the word lacked any confidence, stuttering and broken... but the word was english! How had she recognized him? How had she understood? She hadn't lived with humans most of her life, there shouldn't be any reason she could speak english... but here she was, speaking as well as understanding it. "T-thats you, isn't it?" Alvin nodded. Before he could say so much as a word, Volte had practically leapt into his arms, curling up the way a wild pichu might. The boy did not resist her. "It feels so... so... weird, sparks! It's like..." She touched one of her cheeks, then one of his. "I'm a pichu, but I'm not a pichu... you're human all the way, aren't you?"

Again, Alvin nodded, this time with enough time to speak. "It... it's alright, Volte... you're human enough, so far as I'm concerned. Don't worry... you don't have to be scared. I'll make sure you're safe, I'll make sure nothing goes wrong..."

The girl sat up, returning to her seat beside her father. "H-how, Sparks? Won't the other humans notice?"

Alvin nodded again, his expression grim. "Unfortunately. But we'll think of something. We can hide most of it..." Those ears were going to be tricky, though. It would take more than well-placed straps or makeup to cover those up... or disguise her lack of ears. Perhaps some latex and a large hat? Maybe his mother would be willing to homeschool her... that would simplify things, although there was still the matter of obtaining identification. He would tell his parents the truth... they already knew what he'd been through, they'd seen proof, so they'd believe him... but no one else could ever know. They would need some kind of story... but that could come later. Alvin didn't want to wrack his mind with those struggles now. "Don't worry. My family knows where I was. I'll explain... they won't hurt you for it, I promise."

Volte smiled. She seemed surprisingly comfortable in human form. She wasn't struggling to sit up, and Alvin was fairly confident she would be able to walk without help. They had been strangely blessed. As to why, well... he did not know "Okay, sparks... where's the rest of your family?"

Alvin shrugged, standing up, and looking around the room. "I haven't seen them since I woke up... they must be out somewhere. I guess they didn't expect us to wake up, or they wouldn't have left us here... Volte, did I ever teach you english?"

The girl shook her head. "I don' think so..." She stood up, imitating her father. She was a little unsteady, and had to grip the couch for support for a few seconds... but by help of her tail, and a bit of persistence, she took her first steps, however wobbly, and was soon up and moving as easily as her father. Alvin watched, eyes wide, but did not interrupt her.

How can she possibly know all this? If anything, Alvin knew she wouldn't know why. How would a child know the source of knowledge as remarkable as this. Still... it didn't hurt... "Then how can you... understand me?"

The child stopped, turning on her heels to look up at Alvin with as much lucidity as he had ever seen from her. "I... I don' know... when I woke up... I wasn't thinking pichu anymore... all those memories were so... so..."

"Faint?"

Volte nodded and continued. "Instead, there's all this stuff in my head... pictures, symbols... words... n-numbers?" She struggled with the word for a few seconds before giving up and moving on. "I don't know what happened to the pichu stuff, but... It's so hard... hard to remember... I won't forget, will I Sparks? I don't want to forget Mother..."

Alvin embraced his daughter again, fighting back his own tears with his ever-erouding self-restraint. Volte was crying now, and after a few seconds... so was Alvin.

There they stood for some minutes, until his mother walked into the room, saw them both... and quickly started crying too. "Alvin!" Her tears were very different than the others, her expression completely unlike theirs... joy. A mother reunited with her child. "Rick said he'd found you, said he'd brought you... I didn't dare to believe it! B-but..." Obviously whatever message Rick had passed along to his wife hadn't quite included a second person, or if they had, neglected to mention the girl had some pokemon features. "Wh-who's this?"

Volte instinctually cowered back, suddenly hiding behind her father, cheeks sparking a bit and expression fixed on the ground. Alvin would not have it, and stepped backward, out of the way between his daughter and mother. "M-mom..." He obviously wasn't having much better luck with his self-confidence than the other pichu, but he forced himself to speak for his daughter's sake. "Mom... this is your granddaughter."


	23. Epilogue

A/N: (End of the story Rant)

Well, here we are at the true end of Minor Miscalculations. It's a strange feeling, to have finished another story… very strange. Writing this thing used to be a facet of my life, something I did every day, if not for very long… now, it won't be. Odd.

I wish to express my gratitude again to everyone who paid the time to review my story. This thing wouldn't exist without your help… not past the first chapter, anyway. It's reviews that kept me going this long, and its thus my reviewers I wish to give the most thanks. If you're a regular reviews (as in, 90+ of the story), then I thank you even more.

I hope this ties up the story with the clarity I opened it with, and I hope I've done justice to the universe I created. For those of you interested in more of this universe, stay tuned for more short stories in the future, or stop by our forums for some roleplaying. If you'd like to give me any feedback, on the quality of the story as a whole or just on this final chapter, please feel free to contact me. I love writing and I love roleplaying even more, so anything you have to say would be appreciated. Thanks again to all my readers, and even more to my reviewers. Thanks also to the FREAKS, who helped kept me motivated to keep writing, consciously or not.

- - - - - - - - - -

Epilogue

The next few days passed in a blur for Alvin. His parents had taken the news of his child surprisingly well, even Rick, and treated Volte better than Alvin could've ever hoped for. When it came time to tell his story, they had insisted he tell them everything, which he did, and they paid close attention, laughing in all the right places, and giving him comfort or a few minutes to himself when it came time to talk about Mia or David or any of the numerous other chu he'd known and lost during his time away. When the story was done, his parents had left him alone with Melissa and Volte, locking themselves into the office to talk for several long hours. Melissa absolutely adored Alvin's daughter, and in days the two had already become close friends. His family were surprisingly considerate, even by the standards Alvin had grown up with, and seemed too overcome with joy at Alvin's return to be critical of his actions, particularly in light on the animal instinct that had driven them. When his parents had emerged from their private meeting, they had informed him he'd be permitted to live either in his old room or the guest-house, and that they would do everything they could to help him raise volte, and finish getting them both through school. Rick would call on some old favors, and they should both be back in school when the next semester rolled around. The prospect of returning to the classroom appealed to Alvin a great deal. After spending more than a year as a pokemon, more than a year struggling to survive in the wild, the idea of spending his time in a perfectly safe and utterly monotonous school classroom, filling his mind with the learning the human race had worked so very hard to accumulate could not be more welcome.

His parents were even tolerant of his strange habits, which were neither few nor mild. Being a pikachu had twisted his mind and habits in strange and unusual ways, several of which continued to influence him even when his human body had returned. The idea of eating meat had taken several days to force back into his nature, and had not been easy by any means. Volte still wasn't willing to, and he expected, never would. She was very much the worse off of the two. Wherever her serrate knowledge had come from, it hadn't been good enough to entirely replace everything she'd ever known and acted, and hadn't been quite able to fully change her body either. Whether or not she would evolve when she became older, and Whether or not she would always be able to use electricity as she plainly could now, Alvin did not know, but he did not envy those abilities. The human body was ill suited for such tasks, and despite how excellent she'd been at it in the wild, it seemed every day or so she returned from the backyard with a burn or toy she'd accidentally melted. Her knowledge had many gaps, and though she seemed able to understand and even read written english, she knew absolutely nothing of human culture, of proper manners... the way to dress herself or use a light-switch. Teaching these things became Alvin's almost constant duty, but he didn't much mind. Things could've been far worse for her, he knew. At least they could communicate.

What did bother Alvin was the distinct lack of answers. So much had happened, he'd seen the very shadows of hell and back, and he was still clueless about the most basic things. Where had his strange dreams as a Pikachu come from? How'd he been made human again? Where was Des? What had powered the device? How did Volte know english? What had happened to the mew? Raiden, it turned out, had tried to answer all of those questions. Whether or not he'd succeeded, well... that was a matter of opinion. As it turned out, he too had been returned to his human form by aid of the device, and somehow, had managed to remain conscious. He had alerted Alvin's father to the present situation as best he could, he'd been the one to help bring them inside. He had not stayed long. As to where he had gone, or why he had left, Alvin did not know, but before he had taken his leave, he had scribbled something on the backside of a sheet of his mother's stationary. He'd read the letter so many times he'd practically memorized the words.

_Dear Alvin,_

_I first became aquatinted to David about six months ago. The manipulation process used by team rocket is both intricate and time-consuming, and much of it is spent unconscious. When your friend was first revived, he was placed under my care and supervision, where he remained until our escape. Beta-human or not, I was still a scientific head, and that position afforded me the greatest trust when it came to matters as sensitive as your good friend._

_One of prime security measures with psychic betas was the continuous operation of a psionic suppression device. It had served us well in the past, but your friend proved to be an exception to that rule, just as he would prove to be with many. Despite as much food and intervenes drip as we could provide, he swiftly became bedridden, too weak to move or operate effectively. The poor creature seemed to be wasting away before our eyes... although the loss of income he would represent was far more disturbing to the higher-ups than his death. It was only on the very verge of his demise that I learned that the reason he was dying was the presence of the device itself. We've never dealt with life like this. The idea that a creature might draw strength from the telepathic energies of other life, the idea that any form of life might require constant psychic activity to survive... was baffling even to me._

_The knowledge came to me quite by accident. It was in the med-lab that it happened... while adjusting the settings to one of his monitoring systems, I accidentally made contact with a patch of uncovered skin on his face. He hadn't spoken since he woke up, despite the constant threat of torture, despite the promise of extra rations and recreational time if he did... and the only message he had sent had been received by the thugs that attempted to move him, when they touched him. They'd both went instantly comatose, and still had yet to revive. It was a good thing your friend was of such value, or such acts would've likely meant his termination. Because of the enormous investment he was, and how rare his telepathic template, he'd been isolated from everyone but me, and dressed from head-to-toe in thick clothing. It was why I made contact with the only exposed area of his body that I learned. He did not lash out at me the way he had the others... rather, he was able to explain everything. He explained to me why he was dying, and why he hadn't spoke... it was a gesture of resistance, he said. His species spoke almost exclusively using telepathic means. If they kept him suppressed, his own energy would not be replenished, and his body would consume itself in an attempt to provide the energy he needed to survive. He was a telepathic species, he said. To keep him held this way was the reason the other's had been killed, as his brain had instinctively jumped and consumed this new source of energy out of pure desire for survival, before considering the consequences. Were all mew like this? He answered that question in the negative. They were supposed to get their energy from moonlight, he said... their energy came from space, from the stars... and that this lead-lined bunker had cut him off from it. He said that he would eventually starve in here anyway, but that removing at least the weakest effects of his inhibitor could prolong his death a year or more. _

_I asked him one more question, in our first meeting. First, why hadn't he done the same thing to me, when I touched him. David answered that my mind had been unlike the thugs that we'd tried to use to expedite his transportation across the base. He said I reminded him of you. Whether or not that's true, I don't know, but I do regret never having the chance to meet you properly. When I first broke protocol... when I deactivated some portion of the telepathic inhibitor, it seemed I'd earned David's trust. Whether or not I deserved it, I cannot say, but ever-after that time, he provided a nearly constant source of information. At first what he told me was scientific, explained that much of what he knew was coming to him from what he believed to be a sort of genetic memory, or that he suspected the device we were using to transport to the beachhead had not been designed for that purpose, but accomplished it by way of accessory to what it had been truly intended for. Eventually, he spoke of different matters, trusting me equally in everything. He told me about his best friend, accidentally changed into a pichu by a device similar to the one rocket had obtained. As it became clearer to me he would not attempt to harm me or anyone else on the base, I gradually lowered the suppressive effects on his brain to about 85 of the device's capabilities, the lowest setting the device could drop before alerting the base's computer-core there was a malfunction, and setting off the alarms. As the settings were turned down, his knowledge and power seemed to increase exponentially. Soon he informed me that he had attracted the attention of a young member of his own species willing to come to their aid... and that he had also managed to identify the mind of his good friend, only a handful of miles from the base. How ironic you too spent your years in such opposite circumstances, yet fifteen minutes by most cars._

_The news he game me of you was not good. He informed me of the severe damage to your mind, that you'd almost completely forgotten of humanity, and that had you been allowed to go on for a few months longer, the damage would've been irreversible. He explained to me of his attempts to revive you remotely, of the way he sent instructions to your subconscious, the way he recovered many of your human memories, and expanded your capacity for remembering... in short, the way he revived you. When I asked him one day why we couldn't escape, it was for your sake we had not attempted what we already accomplished a few hours ago. His mew contact, from what I understood, felt herself too young to risk a conflict with the creatures rocket had created... either that, or some force restrained her from the attempt. The one matter David quickly proved an unwilling source was the matter of his species, or anything to do with their lives, habits, or nature. He seemed perfectly willing to remain in captivity, to risk death, torture, and banishment through the device for your sake... but he refused to leave. If we were to escape, he had already explained that it would be necessary to flee the content, to be free from rocket's influence and the telepathic monstrosities they would send after us. Should he do that, he would be unable to return for you... and the facility had shielding preventing conventional teleportation._

_It was only a few days ago I learned that David had made serious headway with you. He said he'd done as much as could be done, and the only way to restore you in any meaningful way to your human mind and body was through the use of the device rocket had been using to send people... but that isn't important. Believe me, you're better of not knowing. I will not tell you what we've endured here, or what the full extent of your friend's changes were. That information is better left out, believe you me._

_What he did tell me was that the device was part of something much larger... a piece of some machine who's task he did not reveal. What he did say was that alteration to matter was this segment's prime purpose, and that it was the best way to change you back, and the only hope for your daughter ever seeing humanity either. He explained that a true member of his species would be able to return you to a human body, but that such a process would likely try your mind beyond its limit, and would surely mean your daughter's demise. Only the device we had in our possession had any hope of giving you your body back, and more importantly, of patching together the memories he had done his best to dredge up. I do not know why your daughter's appearance was not quite corrected... I expect it has something to do with me. When the device was constructed, no such species as I existed. The machine may've returned me to humanity, but... your daughter passed through right behind me. perhaps some sort of buffering mechanism was activated, changing the ratio of human to pokemon while turned to a setting designed to give those with human minds a human body? I do not know. David did say the settings we used were added to the device long after it had been created, as a means to change the very best and most intelligent pokemon into the newest of pokemon species... humans. Whether or not this is true, I don't know. Your friend never claimed to be particularly knowledgeable, but I cannot recall a question of mind he failed to answer. I do not know Whether or not the answers he gave me were correct, but I know without a doubt he believed them to be. That's certainly enough for me... and if I really am anything like you, it's probably enough for you, too._

_I wish I'd been privileged to meet either of you outside of those circumstances, and I am sorry for all the harm my organization caused you both. You can be safely sure not to find my name listed with theirs anymore, though. I knew before David arrived things weren't quite right... perhaps their indirect attempt at my life was a clue?_

_I do not know if I will ever see you again. The organization may be out searching for me for some time, but you can operate without fear. I don't know if the device has a cache of previous destinations, but I can safely say they'll never turn the thing on the way your friend did._

_Speaking of David, I would not worry about him. I don't know if you saw what happened, but I wouldn't lose any sleep over it. For all their strength, those creatures that attacked us are completely clueless when it comes to actual knowledge. Everything they know, everything they think, they've been taught to think and taught to believe. I have no doubt that, given a few weeks, your friend could've torn them apart on his own. He did mention that the member of his species who would come was quite young... but had I to guess, I would say they would still be more than a match for those others. I can't know that for sure, of course, but you can be sure I'll be thinking it._

_Before I close, there's one more thing David told me, and told me to tell you. He didn't know if he would have the courage, you see... he wanted you to know that he wouldn't be able to return. He knew that, despite the opposition, he never could have used the device the way we did. Stepping through it would have made him more-like what he was, and less like what we are. I suppose he honestly did not wish to be human again... why that could be, I haven't the foggiest. I suppose only he knows that._

_Included is information for one of my foreign-soul bank accounts. I know it's impossible to put a value on a friend like David, but I really would like to do everything I can. I don't know how much money's in there, but it should be more than enough to provide for you for quite some time. Best of luck with your daughter. That's one privilege I never had._

Alvin would never know what to think of that letter. Could he believe it? Raiden didn't have any reason to lie, that he knew. Could David really be changed that much? Had fear compelled him to remain silent? He suspected he would never know. Whater had happened to David, he was gone now. There was no sense in trying himself over it. Alvin had enough on his plate as it was.

There was one bright star on the horizon, though. Two days after his return, Alvin'd found a pokeball waiting for him on his desk, balanced on the edge of his keyboard. How it had come to be be there, he did not know, any neither did the rest of his family. Everyone in his home claimed to be innocent of any knowledge. This would not have been particularly unusual, except for what it continued. He would never forget the way he felt when the storage device had first opened. Alvin had known who the pikachu was before his outline had even finished solidifying. "Des!" The boy exclaimed, darting to the place the pikachu had landed, drawing Des into a tight hug. "You're alright!"

The pokemon was confused, as well he could be expected to be, blinking from his eyes the stupor of long-term storage. He was not able to talk for several seconds, when he did... "Alvin? You're... big again?"

The boy nodded enthusiastically, returning the pikachu to the ground and jumping to his feet. Yes, he was big again. Simplistic as the communication had... wait! "Des, say something else!"

"What do you want me to say?" The pikcahu answered, tilting his head lightly to one side. The pokemon was curious, but clueless.

Alvin, on the other hand, was absolutely ecstatic. "I... I can... still... understand you, Des!" He shouted, smiling widely. "Your language... what you're saying... I can understand!" If he could still understand the language, it meant Volte would have no trouble with it... well, that would sure change the world. The machine could give you the ability to speak the language of beasts. All it cost was your humanity. His excitement did not last, though... curiosity had always been Alvin's strongest emotion. "Where were you, Des? How'd you get here?"

For some time, the pikachu remained silent, quiet... struggling to put together what little memory he had of the questions being asked, and to assemble enough of the proper words to express exactly what had happened. "I... don't... remember." He reluctantly admitted. "I was in one of those... storage... things... then you let me out..."

So the pikachu had been in storage the whole time? Since David had been captured? Well, it was no wonder he didn't seem much older, and that he even remembered Alvin. So Des wouldn't know how he had escaped from the base, or how he had been brought here. And Alvin already knew his parents didn't know. Pokeballs didn't just decide to migrate across continents. Could it be that… no, he couldn't let him think that. There were far more important things to worry about now... nevermind how Des had got here, just so long as he was here.

- - - - - - - - - -

"Dad, what are you doing?" Volte's voice was quiet, tentative. They still weren't sure how she knew how to speak English, or how she could understand it, for that matter, but no one had complained. The records were all in, falsified as best as was possible. Volte, or as her computer records would show, Erica, had been listed as Alvin's younger sister. It would have to stay that way, until they were both older. Alvin did not know how his parents had obtained those records, and he hadn't asked. However they'd done it, he was immensely grateful.

Still, there were a great many difficulties left unsolved. Erica's appearance could not be as easily falsified as her records were. They'd obtained wigs, liquid latex, special clothes… as much as would help. When she was sixteen, she could pretend to see a plastic surgeon… but until then, she would have to conceal her true appearance from the public. Neither Volte nor Alvin had been happy with this news, but with the prospect of medical attention and possible medical examination… it seemed far easier to conceal the truth than to reveal it.

That wasn't to say she had to do so all the time, though. Alvin's parents had been happy enough for the chance to shop for their first grandchild, so Erica dressed in a brand new sundress that'd be tailored to her tail. By some, she would probably be a travesty, some sort of unspoken evidence of human abuses… but to Alvin, she was the most bueatiful thing in the world, and no one would ever tell him different. As for the moment, he sat alone on the hard-polished piano bench, reciting the only melody that seemed to want to come to him, right now. The notes came easily, his hands moving with praticed precision, despite the years that separated him from the last he'd played it. When you knew a piece this well, it was difficult indeed to forget. "This is a piano." Alvin eventually answered, spinning round on the bench to face away from the keys. "You press these, and make different sounds…"

Erica moved closer, leaning over the bench to inspect the keys more closely. This was the first time she'd heard anyone paying the piano… the first time she'd heard music at all since she'd been human, as a matter of fact. "How do you know which one to press?"

There was no sheet music, for Alvin needed none. He could still read music, he thought… but was too afraid to check, just now. "I… I just know, I guess. Music has always been easy." The boy glanced down to his fingers, spinning back around to the piano.

Erica watced for a moment, obviously thinking hard, before climbing up onto the bench beside her father, leaning forward so that he might watch as Alvin played. She remained silent for some time, listening intently as the boy's hands danced across the keys, moving with such speed that any ordinary person would have more than a little trouble following them. Only when Alvin had finished the piece, leaning back on the bench to rest for a moment, did she speak again. "Can you teach me?"

"Sure." Alvin took his daughter in his lap, taking her tiny hands in his, and ignoring the brief electrical serge that resulted. If anyone else touched her, when she wasn't ready, they could get quite a shock… but Alvin seemed to be able to touch her without danger. "Just… this hand goes here… and this one here…" He began, setting her to play the base portion of the piece. The Moonlight Sonata was far from a simple piece, but Alvin was no teacher. Proper fundamentals weren't exactly first on his agenda. To his surprise and utter bewilderment, he needed to guide only the first few notes, before Volte took full control, playing without his guidance. She'd head the piece twice now, once watched and once with her ears only… b\and she seemed able to play. It was a shaky, yes, occasionally missing a few notes… but the feat was astounding nonetheless. Soon, she'd taken over completely, leaving Alvin to watch, dumbfounded. And so he listened, watching his daughter in his lap with absolute intensity. He tried to speak… tried to congratulate her… but couldn't so much as whisper. Watching as his daughter played the peace he'd known so well, one of many he'd used to help himself back, all those months ago.

Unseen, two pairs of eyes watched from the skylight, listening as intently as Alvin to Beethoven's fourteenth Sonata. The smaller turned to the larger, trying to conceal her tears. "Can't I say something? Alvin deserves to know…" There was no verbal answer, but the smaller seemed to understand. "Alright… alright…" As Erica finished, and the little pair moved away from the piano, so too did the observers, turning back to the clouds. "But as soon as he's recovered, I have to talk to him. And my parents…"

The other voice, like the first, made no actual sound, only a simulated telepathic tone. This simulation sounded older, wiser… but not by much. "I know. You'll get a chance, don't worry… just not now. It's not the right time, yet." The answer was satisfactory… barely. But… when was the right time? Alvin had been through enough, his life had been twisted into multiple shapes, he'd experienced loss of a degree unjust for his age, as well as the joy his daughter. And why? Had he offended some otherworldly being? Made some critical misjudgment? Or… could it all be traced to a shortcut through the woods, and a few minor miscalculations?

The End


End file.
